Keir Starmer rejects calls for minister for men

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Sir Keir Starmer has rejected calls to introduce a minister for men and boys to help tackle “toxic” masculinity.
The Prime Minister said introducing a new ministerial role was not “the answer” to the problem.

But he said he was “worried” about the issue and said that society “can’t shrug our shoulders” as he promised a government response.

The issue has received increased scrutiny in recent weeks due to the popularity of the Netflix drama Adolescence, which explores the case of a schoolboy killer, misogyny online and bullying on social media.

Asked on Monday morning if he believed it was time to introduce a minister for men, Sir Keir told BBC Radio 5 Live: “No, I don’t think that is the answer. I think it is a time for listening carefully to what Gareth Southgate was saying and responding to it.

“And certainly that is what I want to do. I have been in touch with Gareth Southgate, I want to have that further discussion with him, we have already had a bit of a discussion about this.

“But I do think it is important that we pick this challenge up and see it for what it is.”

Sir Keir revealed he had spoken to Sir Gareth after the former England football manager delivered a lecture in which he warned “manipulative and toxic influencers” were tricking young men.

Sir Gareth said many young men end up “searching for direction” and fill the void with a “new kind of role model who does not have their best interest at heart”.

Asked if he believed society was sleepwalking into a “crisis for masculinity”, the Prime Minister said: “I am worried about this… I have been in touch with Gareth, I know Gareth, I thought his lecture, what he was saying, was really powerful, will have resonated with a lot of parents, and I do think this is something that we have to take seriously, we have to address, we can’t shrug our shoulders at it.”

The Government does have a minister for women and equalities – a position currently held by Bridget Phillipson – but there is no comparable role specifically for men.

A recent report published by the Higher Education Policy Institute said the Government could appoint a “minister for men and boys” specifically tasked with addressing the educational underachievement of male pupils.

The report said a “boy-positive” learning environment needed to be developed in schools as it warned there was a risk of “under-educated men veering towards the political extremes” if male underachievement was not tackled.

Sir Keir said last week that he had been watching the programme with his two teenage children.

Yes we really need to involve famous developmental phycologist Gareth Southgate, if he’s not available maybe Barry from East enders is free.

He shouldnt be assigning a minister for men to counter toxic masculinity

He should be assigning one to help reverse the massive suicide rate in men, the lower education attainment, the vastly higher victims of violent crime numbers, the significantly lower life expectancy, the massively worse cancer and medical outcomes and the fact that men can be conscripted

or woooooo womens month!

Government initiative I’d like to see is working towards keeping families together. While having a man in the house isn’t always great if he’s not a good example, boys that grow up without *any* type of male role model will inevitably find one somewhere else – and it’s unfortunately not always going to be a good one.

I think people underestimate the impact that not having a father figure around has on young boys.

Minister for Equality would probably work better, and what it should always be about, instead of a specific gender.

Why can’t we rebrand it minister for gender equality/equity (which is what feminism always aimed for)?

That way there is an acknowledgement that these are two sides of the same coin. They could address both the ongoing problems women face in the workplace, especially at and after child bearing age, as well as the rapidly developing education and work crisis in young men. It may help the latter group feel less ignored. Not addressing both now will guarantee future gender equality issues and social tensions.

Im not convinced there needs to be a minister for men.

What we do need is better socio economic outcomes for younger people generally (instead of the hopelessness they feel currently), stronger role models and community spaces.

The stuff that pushes young men to do violent things are a varying mixture of ostracisation, relative poverty, poor or lack of male role models……. then they go and find company in niche online groups which are toxified by bad actors, gangs, or terrorist organisations (or the armed services).

People need to stop thinking that because they watched adolescence on Netflix, the answer to problems society poses to men is another sticking plaster, it needs actual societal changes in the interests of everyone, because those changes benefitted women, in much the same way equality for women benefits men.

Having a minister is surely just going to sit in an office in Whitehall not really doing anything. Some actual decent male role models in settings like youth groups would be much better, but unfortunately, as we’ve seen locally very recently, it’s hard to find men who can’t not abuse those in their care. I don’t know what the answer is, but another suit in Whitehall isn’t the right play without some kind of baseline engagement with young men and adolescents which can be done safely with suitable vetting and subsequent checks.

Actually a really bad thing without ‘Equality’ which in itself is a truthful argument but a different one.

We are all wringing our hands about Male mental health, Male loneliness, Lack of Male role models, Andrew Tate et al influence on young men/ incel culture, and finally male health issues such as prostate cancer awareness, men with breast cancer etc. only just starting having sanitary bins in men’s toilets for example.

A lot of problems that aren’t being addressed in a unified manner, one person to create policy and dot the I’s cross the T’s would be a really positive thing.

I nominate Penn Jillette.

As he is the best a man can get.

This is one of those ideas that sounds like an MRA bs thing, but really it could make a lot of sense. Just like a parliament just for England. By not having a Minister for Men, it leaves these issues to shit heads to exploit, and also implies that men are the default gender so everything is for us.

There is a strong progressive argument for this idea.

I don’t know what’s wrong with this mentally ill party.

Remember when they did a version of Women’s Hour for men? Hardly anybody listened to Men’s Hour and it was cancelled.

Minister of women and equalities should be scrapped then.

The first step is to stop calling masculinity toxic

Male issues are getting worse and worse and nobody in in their (our) corner. Every time these genuine issues get brought up they’re *always* bombarded by people yelling “women have it worse” and completely invalidating everything trying to be discussed with childish arguments and pure vitriol. A lot of the language used to describe men is incredibly vile and is taken right out of the Far Right’s playbook (Ironic considering it most often comes from the left) and because of this, it’s allowed the actual far right to massively sweep in and take a lot of vulnerable boys and men into their wing and teaching them to blame women for all of their issues.

Women are also massively suffering because of this too. More people will commit offenses against them because of people like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Andrew Tate, Tommy Robinson etc. running rampant and women who are actually aware of these issues and try to bring them up get shot down as well, branded as “pick mes” or described as having internalised misogyny (a phrase directly linked to transphobia btw, as is the majority of sexism).

All in all, the situation is fucked and *nobody* is going to fix it, because the issue is being swept under the rug and 99% of people just don’t give a fuck

Minister of PENIS – Promoting Equality and Nurturing Individual Strength