Barack Obama discusses masculinity with novelist Lauren Groff in the final episode of his six-part “A Great Book” podcast, which premieres Sept. 24. He says he wants men like “All the Pretty Horses” cowboy John Grady Cole and asks how society can cultivate that kind of man.
Obama says some boys and men hear terms such as “patriarchy” and “toxic masculinity” and worry they do not want to be toxic. Groff tells him he was an example of the kind of man she admires, and says boys may need examples of radical empathy and compassion from people in power more than new language.
