Shaping the boys' agenda: the backlash blockbusters

The boys' debate internationally is being fuelled by a range of texts on boys and masculinity. Many of the most popular texts are situated firmly within a backlash politics. These politics suggest that boys are the new 'victims' of schooling and that the girls' agenda in schooling is a completed one. This paper will challenge the arguments contained within a number of the most recent of these 'backlash blockbusters'. The paper will argue that, rather than boys being placed on the educational agenda in the status of victims, the ways in which dominant forms of masculinities and the harms they cause many girls and some boys need to be addressed.