Christopher J. Greig, Ontario Boys: Masculinity and the Idea of Boyhood in Postwar Ontario, 1945-1960

Abstract

Christopher J. Greig’s new book examines public discourses on boyhood in Ontario during the years following the Second World War. Greig argues that a host of journalists, child-rearing experts, and novelists (among others) used boyhood as a means of rejuvenating patriarchal structures that had been challenged by the decline of the male breadwinner ideal during the Great Depression and the increased participation of women in the workforce during the war. Indeed, if the commentators in Greig’s study are to be believed, the creation of a rugged “boy citizen” who could “promote and protect democracy” was necessary in order to stave off a serious crisis of masculinity (xix).