The Lives of Boys
Parents, teachers and youth workers of all kinds are warily watching how the internet, smartphones and social media is impacting adolescence, and there is no question that we are in uncharted territory - especially as it pertains to boys and young men.
Michael Conroy has spent his career working in personal development and well-being programs for boys and young men in secondary school in the UK, and has had a front row seat to the enormous changes the world-wide web has brought to bear on the developing minds and social lives of boys and young men - in particular, the pornification of the internet and culture more broadly and the rise of the manosphere and related misogyny.
In 2021, feeling like existing programs were not up to the task of supporting and safeguarding the healthy development of boys, Michael founded Men At Work, an innovative training program using dialogue to develop and equip boys and young men with critical thinking skills, sharper curiosity and discernment, as well as greater capacity for empathy and other pro-social modes.
In this wide-ranging conversation Michael talks to Elle about the art of fostering a positive vision for boys and young men, what should and shouldn’t be feared about the big bad internet, Andrew Tate and incels, what the Netflix series Adolescence told us and what it missed, what feminism has got to do with it, and why raising healthy young men matters to all of us.
EPISODE LINKS
CONTACT US
Instagram: @subject2power
email us at subjecttopower@gmail.com
CREDITS
Host: Elle Kamihira
Produced by Elle Kamihira
Audio Engineering by Jason Sheesley at Abridged Audio
Cover Art by Bee Johnson
Music by Beware of Darkness
Michael Conroy
Founder of Men At Work
Michael is founder of Men At Work, and creator of the 'Foundations: 12 Dialogues’ training and resource package for professionals working with boys and young men.
After working in secondary education for 16 years, he has focused since 2021 on training (currently over 3000) educators, youth workers and social workers in facilitating constructive dialogues with young males on envisioning positive, abuse-free futures for themselves and others - and how to realize them. Using a no-frills and frank approach, the program explores a range of themes like misogyny, peer-pressure, objectification, status-seeking, unrealistic expectations and diminished empathy.
In addition to training, Michael often speaks in the press and media on a wide variety of issues relating to the safe development of boys and young men and their role in ending male violence against women and girls. Appearances include BBC Newsnight, Today, Woman's Hour and Politics Live, as well as Westminster Parliamentary Select Committee on Sexual Harassment in Public Spaces and APPG sessions on Sex Education and Commercial Sexual Exploitation, and interviews/features in The New York Times, The Guardian, Observer, Le Monde and The Times.
Michael’s core message for adults is to show up (as positive, curious, reliable adults in the lives of boys and young men) and to find out (what is going on in their lives, emerging beliefs and values). Showing up informs finding out - and vice versa.