Raising Boys

Jess Hill, Zac Seidler
A child in a gray shirt looks at a bright blue collage featuring green headphones, a flexing arm, a mallet, stars, and swirls.
  • Talks and Ideas
  • all about women
  • Run time: 60 minutes Subject to change

Please don’t let my kid become that guy

From Andrew Tate to algorithmic rabbit holes, this panel will unpack the real forces shaping boys today — and what parents can do beyond panic and blame.

Bringing up boys isn’t getting any less complicated. One minute they’re sweet, funny little humans. The next, they’re parroting some podcast bro who insists “patriarchy isn’t real” and “grindset” is a personality.

Shows like Adolescence and books like The Anxious Generation tapped a nerve. As toxic masculinity is loudly (and often rightly) called out, a generation of boys is confused and ashamed — and the algorithm is happy to lead them down dark alt-right rabbit holes. It’s part of the reason the Australian government introduced age restrictions for social media accounts.

So how do we cut through the bro-fluencer noise to raise resilient, emotionally literate boys?

Investigative journalist Jess Hill (See What You Made Me Do) and men’s mental health researcher Zac Seidler unpack the cultural forces shaping boys today and how adults can guide them with compassion.

Sydney Opera House Presents

Event details

Boyhood is inherently traumatising… there is one rule of masculinity that stands today, which is you must be strong; you must not be weak; and you must show that you’re in control.

Jess Hill

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