{"id":53027,"date":"2025-07-10T03:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T03:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/53027\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T03:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T03:04:10","slug":"vermont-film-gives-voice-to-quiet-crisis-facing-boys-and-young-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/53027\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermont film gives voice to \u2018quiet crisis\u2019 facing boys and young men"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A camera operator from the Montpelier-based Well Told Films talks with a Vermont boy for the new documentary \u201cGone Guys.\u201d Photo courtesy of Well Told Films<\/p>\n

Adjusting 90 pounds of gym weights, a Vermont teenager named Gabe introduced himself to a visiting filmmaker before noting that growing up male could be a heavy lift.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my experience in school, like elementary school, I got in trouble a lot,\u201d the boy told the man with a camera and microphone. \u201cI felt very alone, and I just felt no one understood me. I think that a lot of the older generation, they might think that, you know, guys in my generation have much less drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, many boys and young men are struggling with social isolation and consequences such as substance abuse and suicide, state and national statistics show. That\u2019s why the Montpelier-based Well Told Films is set to debut a new documentary, \u201cGone Guys,\u201d this week to kick off a series of free screenings<\/a> throughout Vermont.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething is out of sync for many boys and young men, and it\u2019s showing up in classrooms, job sites and communities,\u201d Dan Smith, president of the Vermont Community Foundation, said in an interview. \u201cWe recognize the urgency and opportunity to create space for people to better understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s organization has teamed with the state\u2019s Richard E. & Deborah L. Tarrant Foundation to sponsor the 45-minute film and follow-up talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we began researching this film, the idea of exploring the challenges facing boys and men was often met with confusion,\u201d said its director, Chad Ervin. \u201cBut in conversation after conversation, two groups understood our focus immediately: parents of boys and educators. Their reaction was almost always the same: \u2018Thank you. It\u2019s about time.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ervin and producer Angela Snow collected data as evidence of what they call a \u201cquiet crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Men earned 13% more bachelor\u2019s degrees than women in 1970, only to go on to receive 16% fewer degrees than women in the half-century since, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boys now make up only one-third of U.S. high schoolers with the top 10% grade point averages, yet almost two-thirds of students in the bottom 10%, the center says.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s work participation rate for \u201cprime age\u201d men has dropped from 97% in 1960 to 88% today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And men total 71% of all opioid deaths, while their suicide rate is four times the figure for women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.<\/p>\n

The documentary features interviews with Vermont educators, mentors and young men, as well as with Richard V. Reeves, author of the internationally recognized book \u201cOf Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re landing at a moment when the nation is really starting to talk about this,\u201d said Lauren Curry, executive director of the Tarrant Foundation. \u201cI think this film invites everyone into the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the rise of male disengagement, the online \u201cmanosphere\u201d and radicalization, the film doesn\u2019t advocate for any particular solution. Instead, it offers examples such as Montpelier High School\u2019s \u201cHealthy Masculinity\u201d class, the University of Vermont\u2019s \u201cMen & Masculinities\u201d program and the Associated General Contractors of Vermont\u2019s trainings on overdose prevention and mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always held firm to the focus of creating a film that seeks to listen to boys and young men and learn from their perspectives and priorities, not preach to them about what they should be doing,\u201d Ervin said.<\/p>\n

The film is set to open in St. Johnsbury on Thursday and Friday<\/a> before moving on to free screenings and discussions<\/a> in Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Burlington, Montpelier and White River Junction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must hold two truths at once,\u201d said Smith from the Vermont Community Foundation. \u201cThat advancing opportunity for women and girls remains essential \u2014 and that boys and young men are struggling in ways we can no longer ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n

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