Study running "significantly improves boys’ attitudes and behaviors associated with healthy masculinity."

john utah wrote:

"“Society seemed to be setting an expectation that boys are not capable of settling down, being respectful of people and property, being caring, and having the ability to concentrate,”

There is a very creepy and subversive agenda by libs, academia and even corporate America to emasculate men. They don't want boys to be boys and men to be men. They want non-threatening, effete and effeminate males who obey, comply and conform. They twist meanings of words and ideas. Their version of "respectful" is something entirely different. It's evil.

Proof that John Utah thinks being a good person involves warmongering.

William Knilley wrote:

dude what wrote:

Wtf why is everyone attacking this? How is encouraging boys to run a bad thing? You don't think running improves your mood?

The point is that the authors are disingenuous in claiming that the benefits of running translate to "healthy masculinity" (as if this can even be defined or assessed).

Running helps all people with their mood, cognitive acuity, whatever. That it happens to help boys of a certain age is obviously not surprising.

If I came up with a "study" that found that racist rednecks can last longer at hot-weather Klan rallies if they drink some fluids over a 12-hour period vs. abstaining from hydration, would this be a good reason to isolate the beneficial effects of drinking water to racist rednecks?

I agree with much of what you said in this string, but I think you're being a bit disingenuous yourself when you say you can't define "healthy masculinity", especially as it relates to young teenage/pre-teenage boys. You know what it means.

john utah wrote:

"“Society seemed to be setting an expectation that boys are not capable of settling down, being respectful of people and property, being caring, and having the ability to concentrate,”

There is a very creepy and subversive agenda by libs, academia and even corporate America to emasculate men. They don't want boys to be boys and men to be men. They want non-threatening, effete and effeminate males who obey, comply and conform. They twist meanings of words and ideas. Their version of "respectful" is something entirely different. It's evil.

Oh come on, this is a silly exaggeration. This isn't something that needs to be politicized. "settling down, being respectful of people and property, being caring, and having the ability to concentrate," none of these things have anything to do with your silly "liberal agenda" and certainly don't make men effeminate. These are critical qualities for any man who is socially adept, and above all DISCIPLINED. Discipline is absolutely a traditional masculine quality, definitely a healthy one, and more important than ever in our modern world of instant gratification. Certainly we can all agree that being wild, impulsive, undisciplined, disrespectful, emotionally repressed, aggressive, belligerent, and selfish are NOT qualities of a healthy man, right? Those things come from insecure masculinity and fake machismo.

This is just a guess, but I'm going to guess the thing that you were most offended by was the line about having boys "better express their emotions and show affection." When you think about it though, that's actually not effeminate at all. If you don't teach boys healthy ways to express their emotions, they don't learn how to regulate them. They grow up to be men who repress their emotions until they become passive aggressive, get walked over because they don't know how to stand up for themselves or others, or they snap and lash out at people violently. Understanding your emotions and knowing how to express them is how you avoid being ruled by your emotions. Likewise showing affection isn't some effeminate thing, that's how you build solid friendships and camaraderie. That's not some touchy-feely "let's hold hands and sing kumbaya" sort of thing, these are practical social skills we're talking about here.

As long as "healthy masculinity" includes laying the smackdown on the chumps on the final straight of an 800, I'm in.

This and the masterbating half marathon guy thread were right next to each other earlier...

Obviously not a study based on the content of the LetsRun message boards.

from an op ed....

It starts as early as Kindergarten. Boys who act ‘rambunctious’ are immediately prescribed Ritalin or Adderall to keep them docile and calm. While the number of girls being prescribed medication for attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is on the rise, boys are prescribed ADHD drugs at over two and half times the rate of girls, according to a recent NBC news report.

In addition to their natural behavior being stifled through medication, American boys are subjected to constant positive reinforcement where no one is allowed to have their feelings hurt, lose a game, or make the Honor Roll.

Outside of school, an average American child’s every moment is now planned and supervised through play dates, organized extra-curricular activities, and helicopter-parenting. This social conditioning is creating a generation of male wimps that become cannon fodder for the demands of the real world.

The assault on males continues everyday through our media, best exemplified by the network television template for primetime sitcoms—from “King of Queens” to “Modern Family”, and “The Big Bang Theory”. Immature, usually overweight, lazy, spineless men navigate life by accident, dumb luck or with the help of superior female characters. While this may be reality for some, it reinforces the negative stereotype that any form of masculine behavior is to be marginalized, ridiculed and shunned.

Democrats have realized that traditionally masculine traits stand in contrast to a culture of dependency and entitlement. It is no coincidence that nearly one-in-six Americans are on food stamps—a 50 percent increase under President Obama’s terms.

Voters whose political leanings stem from traditional beliefs of masculinity, both men and women, tend to reject pro-dependency and entitlement policies and candidates. By encouraging and fostering gender-warfare at all levels of society, the Democratic Party has been successful in stifling masculine thought and ensuring voters who espouse traditional beliefs of masculinity are marginalized and branded ‘cavemen,’ ‘anti-women,’ or worse.

john utah wrote:

Outside of school, an average American child’s every moment is now planned and supervised through play dates, organized extra-curricular activities,

Oh no!! Anything besides hanging out with friends and extra-curriculars!! What are we going to do next? Make kids go to school?! Prescribe a balanced diet?! Someone please step in and stop this!!

google: amherst college cross country