Boy Crisis of 2025, Meet the ‘Boy Problem’ of the 1900s

quote:

---

Since 2010, suicide rates among young men have risen by a third — they are now higher than they are among middle-aged men. The share of college degrees going to men has fallen to 41 percent, lower than the women’s share in 1970. One in 10 men aged 20 to 24 is effectively doing nothing — neither enrolled in school nor working. That’s twice the rate in 1990.

---

quote:

---

Today’s leaders have been slow to recognize the extent of male troubles, in part because of a fear of being seen as somehow anti-woman. But alarm bells are ringing.

---

quote:

---

First, there are simply fewer organizations with an explicit mission to serve boys and men. Most of the ones formed during the last boy crisis have gone coed, sometimes as a result of a merger. Most now serve more girls than boys. An exception is Boys and Girls Clubs, which renamed itself in 1990 and still serves a slightly higher share of boys (55 percent) than girls. In other cases, previously male-serving institutions have gone coed while their sister organizations have remained single-sex. Boy Scouts no longer exists, having rebranded as Scouting America after the controversial decision to admit girls. Of the roughly one million scouts in the movement today, around 20 percent are girls. But there are also more than a million girls in Girl Scouts, which remains a single-sex organization. All told, there are now 50 percent more girls than boys in scouting. The Y.M.C.A. banned gender discrimination in 1978 and now has a mission to support the well-being of all children, young people and the wider community, regardless of gender. Most Y.M.C.A. members are female, and more than two-thirds of Y.M.C.A. employees — including, strikingly, all six senior executives — are women. Most volunteers are women, too. On every measure, then, the Y is now a female-oriented institution. (The Y.W.C.A. remains a single-sex organization with an explicit mission to empower women.)

---