Peter Baker

This is well worth a look: a new eBook, Equality for Men, by Glen Poole, Director of the consultancy Helping Men and organiser of the equality4men social media campaign. It is an accessible and well-argued attempt to map out a new approach to gender equality that is supported by a mass of data that shows just how bad things are for men and boys in many areas of their lives, including health, fatherhood, education, work and crime. Many of those who argue for men’s rights quickly lapse into anti-feminism and misogyny, blaming women for all men’s problems. I was delighted to see that Glen does not share this unsavoury perspective and declares his support for tackling discrimination against women. But I nevertheless remain unconvinced by some of his core arguments. Read the rest of this entry »

Men are not a success story for the UK’s health services. Their unnecessarily poor health and early death is in fact good news only for the funeral business.

Is this because the Y chromosome and a problematic prostate condemn men to physical frailty or because they are simply foolish, feckless and increasingly fat? Much better explanations are that men have been brought up to believe they have to be strong, silent and stoical and that health services have not done enough to change men’s risk-taking behaviours or help them to access services. Read the rest of this entry »