I agree about the need for male role models. I don't have kids myself, except for all my middle school students. We need role models for a variety of ways to be masculine. After I read your comment I was thinking about the whole idea of role models. I think one of the gifts that I can give to the young women in my school is that I can involve them traditionally masculine activities and conversations. I think women by nature have plenty of "masculine" energy and men have plenty of "feminine" energy, but in our genderized world we are denied expression of those parts of ourselves. I think boys and girls need role models of men who express traditionally feminine sentiments like nurturing and generosity, just as they need role models of women who express ambition and competition. Currently the best way for a boy to have masculine attributes modeled for him is to have adult men in his life who mentor him. But that might change as gender expression norms change. I have a friend who is a lesbian who gives off about 50/50 masculine and feminine energy and she raised a manly son, but that is a subset of one - and I think in my essay I noted that I was indoctrinated into masculinity through my peers and not my parents. So I don't know. Thanks for reading and responding.