‘Toxic Masculinity’ Narrative Harming Boys, MP Tells Parliament

The narrative about toxic masculinity “pushes negative messages all the time to young men,” an MP told ministers during a parliamentary debate on the educational attainment of boys. Conservative MP Steve Double made the remarks in Westminster Hall on Tuesday, where he questioned why there was a higher proportion of boys than girls who drop out of school or were not in work. He also remarked that suicide was the “biggest killer of men under 50 in this country,” with three-quarters of all suicides being men. He suggested there were a number of factors and that negative messaging surrounding masculinity was one of them....