SOURCE: Young, Cathy. “Where the Boys Are.” Reason 32, no. 9 (February 2001): 24-31.

In the following review of The War against Boys, Young examines various sides of the debate about gender differences and the education system.

Is America Shortchanging Male Children?

One day last September, there were two back-to-back events in adjacent rooms at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. “Beyond the ‘Gender Wars,’” a symposium organized by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), was followed by a rejoinder from the Independent Women's Forum (IWF), “The XY Files: The Truth Is Out There … About the Differences Between Boys and Girls.” Each event largely followed a predictable script. On the AAUW side, there was verbiage about “gender, race, and class” and hand-wringing about the “conservative backlash”; despite an occasional nod to innate sex differences, “gender equity” was pointedly defined as “equal outcomes.” On the IWF side, there were...