(They are not the boys pictured here, who were interviewed and photographed for a parallel project.) When we spoke they would chat in lucid bursts and then stall, drop into ums, awkwardnesses, silence. Others came via contacts in youth groups and schools a few I met while researching other articles. Some of these young men were responding to a readers’ call-out about identity published on the Guardian’s website. They find YouTube relaxing, OK? The stereotype’s been put in our heads that we’re supposed to be strong, not allow emotions They’re irritated by early waking, overtly suspicious security guards, being perceived as wasteful by adults who watch them watching those “useless” videos. They like gaming, Netflix, partying, coupling, the Premier League, “watching useless videos for hours”. School pressure, obviously”) and outside the school gates they’re edgily aware of peer-on-peer violence, or at least the scent of it in the air. In school they’re stressed (“Exam pressure. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been canvassing the views of about 30 boys of Joel’s age – encouraging them to speak freely, from Brighton to Birmingham, Cardiff to Canvey Island, sometimes on the condition of anonymity – and certain preoccupations recur. You hear a phrase like ‘toxic masculinity’ get thrown about. You think of a man as someone who wants to help the people around him and, to an extent, protect.” Then you realise, Joel continues, “there’s a thin line between protecting and being overbearing. “Because when you’re little and that, you think of being masculine as being big, butch, strong. It depends who you ask, but I think, more and more, that idea’s dropped away.” What’s come up in place of the old certainties, Joel thinks, is a wildfire of confusion. So in his mind, masculinity is a very stereotypical man’s-man thing: the guy coming home from work for his meat and two veg, a muscular, massive man. Joel says: “My grandad was a coal miner for 20 years. What is going on in their heads right now, these boys on the cusp? What do they believe, and what do they doubt, about the mantel of adulthood they’ll soon inherit? What do they think makes a man a man, at a time when there are big questions being asked about gender identity and gender privilege? I’ve asked him to define masculinity as he sees it, just as I’ve been asking a similar thing of 16- and 17-year-olds like him all over the country. There’s no age limit on a great watch or pair of shoes, after all.) Stop scrolling through endless pages of Amazon search results-these are the only gifts for teenage boys you need to know about (according to the guys themselves).“You mean Yorkie bars and steel factories, that sort of thing?” Joel is 16 and lives in Wirral. (Oh, and plenty of these picks also make great presents for teenage girls, not to mention gifts for men in general. The next time you’re in the market for the best gifts for teen boys, don’t go it alone this gift guide is here to help. Supporting a fledgling social media star? Some threads from Abercrombie will do the trick. Know a star athlete? A sporty backpack or tech-friendly running gloves are some of the best gifts you’ll find. Do you have a gamer in your house? LED string lights, a kick-ass headset, game sets, or light-up keyboard are safe, grin-garnering bets. And if you’re hoping to get a little more personal with your gift giving, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel-just go with what you know they’re already interested in. Teens and tweens change with the times, of course, but at a certain level, they all love a good DIY kit or comfy hoodie, just like you did.
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