"Do Boys Need Dads?" | An IgnatiusInsight.com Interview with Maggie Gallagher

Do Boys Need Dads? An IgnatiusInsight.com Interview with Maggie Gallagher, President of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy
       
Do boys need Dads? Decades of sociological research support the common sense answer, "Yes!" But as the push for "same sex marriage" gains ground around the world and within the United States, the belief that both a Mom and a Dad are what’s best for children is becoming a politically incorrect notion in some circles.
       
A recent book, Raising Boys Without Men: How Maverick Moms Are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men by Peggy Drexler, has been widely praised book for making the case for raising boys without fathers. It has been received favorably in a wide range of magazines, from Harpers’s Bazaar, which labeled it a "Hot Summer Read" to a favorable interview in Parents magazine.

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Comments

[Mark Brumley]

The answer is "Yes". Next question, please.

[Carl Olson]

Should boys have two daddies, just like Heather?

[fr richard]

Would they both give allowances?

[Ben Swagerty]

Aaugh! I didn't realize that Drexler's book was actually getting out that far & wide. I just read a review of it in The Atlantic magazine, which did a great job of addressing the self-congratulatory and anti-straight-man themes of the book. Specifically, the [female] reviewer mentioned that Drexler seems to make the case that straight men are the problem and that boys can grow into decent men w/o any older men in their lives [no matter how much they may deeply long for a father]. I know that many single mothers have probably been forced to raise boys on their own and done well [b/c of divorce, death, infidelity], but boys will always need men to look up to & learn from. The article can be read at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200511/raising-fatherless-boys
The reviewer gets to one of the most important consequences of 'families w/o dads needed', in the last couple of chapters. She writes that the greatest event in civilization was probably when men stayed home & committed to one woman & their children, not when boys were no longer raised with a dad.
I also wonder if other people have been kind to Drexler's book b/c they wished to be kind to gay parents, but it's another thing entirely when someone is advocating that fathers [or father figures] are worthless & obsolete. [Ok, I'm finally done.]

[Ed Peters]

If it's so obvious to D that boys don't need dads, then might we wonder whether girls really need moms?

[Patrick Coulton]

that children were meant to have dad
makes a lady exceedingly sad
for to find one she must
not give into her lust
and try hard to make some fellow glad

[Carl Olson]

So Drexler says, on one hand, that boys are wonderful and great — until they become men. Then they aren't needed. Unless they are homosexual, in which case they are wonderful and great once again. The agenda seems more than a bit obvious...