What Boys Become When No One Stays - The Deeper Thinking Podcast

The Deeper Thinking Podcast

What Boys Become When No One Stays

The Deeper Thinking Podcast

What if the most fragile structure in a boy’s life wasn’t failure, but the absence of someone who stayed? In this episode, we explore how masculinity is shaped not through strength or ideology, but through vacancy. From silent fathers to algorithmic mimicry, from emotional suppression to disappearing mentorship, we trace how disconnection becomes a blueprint—and what it takes to unwrite it. This is not an argument. It is a quiet cartography of presence, return, and the soft work of becoming someone who stays.

With quiet references to Scott Galloway, Hannah Arendt, bell hooks, and Simone Weil, we reflect on masculinity not as an identity, but as a relational ethic—something built, moment by moment, in the presence of another who does not leave.

Why Listen?

• Explore how absence—not aggression—has shaped the inner lives of boys
• Reflect on masculinity as contribution, presence, and emotional inheritance
• Understand the cultural collapse of mentorship—and what might restore it
• Engage with ethical masculinity without ideology or spectacle

Listen On:

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts

Bibliography

• Galloway, Scott. The Algebra of Happiness. New York: Portfolio, 2019.
• Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
• hooks, bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria Books, 2004.
• Weil, Simone. Gravity and Grace. London: Routledge, 2002.
• Perry, Grayson. The Descent of Man. London: Penguin Books, 2016.

Bibliography Relevance

• Scott Galloway’s insights on mentorship and male failure quietly shaped the foundational hinge of the episode.
• Hannah Arendt’s work on responsibility and natality informed the ethic of offering more than you take.
• Bell Hooks’ vision of masculinity as a site of love, not domination, underpins the emotional architecture of the piece.
• Simone Weil’s emphasis on attention as a moral act underlies the deeper call to witness boys differently.
• Grayson Perry’s cultural critiques of masculinity’s rigidity provide a soft counterpoint to inherited norms.

#Masculinity #Boyhood #Mentorship #ScottGalloway #BellHooks #HannahArendt #SimoneWeil #EmotionalLiteracy #TheDeeperThinkingPodcast