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Copyright ©2001 Massachusetts News,
Inc. Photocopying and data processing storage of all or any part of
this issue may not be made without prior written consent.
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Opinion Harvard Med School
Psychologist By Atty.
J. Edward Pawlick Does the
psychiatric unit at Harvard Medical School have no shame? One of
their stars, Dr. William Pollack, is apparently out to garner more publicity
than ever – and sell more books – after violence erupted in Springfield
where an 11-year-old has murdered another boy. After we
wrote in our November issue about Pollack’s simplistic notions about
the boys of America and how the doctor suddenly appeared on television
and in the papers whenever violence occurred across the country, we
received a four-page letter from his lawyer. He threatened suit if we
did not respond “promptly” and “constructively.” The letter
charged we had “inferred that Dr. Pollack cynically rode the wave of
public interest in the tragedy at Littleton, and rode it to fame and
fortune.” We didn’t say that; they did. We printed the lawyer’s letter in full and offered to print anything else they wanted to say, but we have not heard from them. One
Must Wonder -
The murderer was
being raised by his mother without a father and apparently with “uncles”
who were violent. This type of dysfunctional family has been shown to
be a huge factor in violence among boys. -
He had just seen a violent movie with people being stabbed and he copied
their behavior. This type of movie is also of great concern to many. -
He told the murdered boy he wanted to fight about a girl. Many have
questioned whether the sexual instruction in the schools is causing
pressure because boys feel they are being taught that they have to “perform”
sexually at an early age. Despite
those facts, Dr. Pollack continues to parrot the feminist thinking that
all violence by boys is because males are dysfunctional in our society. This feminist
thinking began in the 1960s and 1970s when they claimed that men and
women are not different and women can do anything that men can. But
everyone slowly became acutely aware that this is not true. Then in
the 1990s, the feminists changed and agreed that the sexes are different
– but women are superior. Dr. Pollack is helping to spread this thought
– in the name of Harvard Medical School – all across the country. He’s telling
everyone that all boys are in “silent crisis.” This is caused by what
he calls the “Boy Code,” which holds that boys “are pushed to separate
from their mothers prematurely” and that too much pressure is put on
them. He believes, like the feminists, that we must build a new type
of man (and boy) for the future. Despite
the many factors that caused this tragic incident in Springfield, Dr.
Pollack told Channel 5 that the “Boy Code” was the cause. The Channel
5 Internet site put this headline, “A Closer Look at Boys and Violence,”
above the following article: “[Chet]
Curtis spoke with one psychologist whose groundbreaking research at
Harvard explores the private world of boys, a world that sometimes causes
isolation and anger. There are no concrete answers for why kids kill
kids. Dr. William Pollack, author of “Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons From
The Myths of Boyhood,” says many young males, especially pre-adolescents,
suffer a silent crisis. ‘We give boys the message that they have to
be big and strong and tough and never show their vulnerability or their
feelings of vulnerability especially if they’re sad or they have pain.
Instead they get mad and act out,’ he says.” If the
boy in Springfield was living in a dysfunctional home with no father
and he saw violence from other men that the mother had in the house,
and if he was being taught in school that it was normal for boys to
have sexual intercourse with girls, and if he had just seen a violent
movie where people stabbed others just as he did, who could possibly
say that it was just another example of the “Boy Code” at work? Only Dr.
Pollack would say that. We repeat
our offer to Dr. Pollack. If he would like to tell our readers about
anything we have printed about him that is untrue, we would be happy
to print it. We discussed his book in our November, December and January
issues, which can be found on our Print Archives. We first
heard about Dr. Pollack in the best selling book, The
War Against Boys, by Prof. Christina Hoff Sommers, where she accused
him of not having the data to prove his assertions. She also accused
the psychiatric unit at Harvard Medical School of promoting the faulty
book in order to gain publicity. Related:
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