“Boys Cannot Talk To Girls Anymore!” Is This A Real Or Imagined Moral Panic?
A couple of years ago, I went to a HR Tech trade show in Austin. One night, I went and had some beers on Rainey Street. The funniest thing that happened on said night was the bartender told me that, during his gender reveal (ha), they gave the cake to the grandma — who then fell down the stairs, smattering the cake (it was blue for a boy), and everyone reacted to the incoming boy but no one immediately wondered if grandma was OK. Alright, I suppose maybe that’s not so funny.
The most insightful thing I learned at that bar was by talking to a guy who did installs for Kendra Scott (I.e. brick and mortar stores) and had a 13 year-old daughter. He said that every guy who came over to the house for his daughter had no idea how to talk — to him, yes, but also to the daughter. They basically just sat and looked at Reels and TikToks together. Odd.
At one level, this is not surprising. Men are not very good about talking on anything that’s vaguely relevant.
