Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

Are we failing boys in America?

Emma Brown and her new book, “To Raise A Boy.”
Emma Brown is an investigative journalist at The Washington Post and the author of the new book, “To Raise A Boy.”
Left: Photo by Kate Warren | Right: Book cover courtesy Simon and Schuster

The #MeToo movement was snowballing when Emma Brown gave birth to a boy. The journalist read about sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men as she was on maternity leave. 

When Brown returned to work, she broke the story of Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanagh, then a Supreme Court nominee.  

It all led her to wonder what’s going on with boys in America. How could she raise her son to be different? She set off to talk to parents, educators, coaches and boys themselves, across the country. What she found surprised her.

“I thought we needed to raise our sons differently in order to protect our daughters,” she writes in her new book, “To Raise a Boy.” “Now, after spending time in the world of boys, I understand that we also need to raise our sons differently for their own sakes.”

Wednesday, MPR News host Kerri Miller talked to Brown about what she learned while researching her book about how we are failing boys in America.

Guest:

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

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