SafeTeens Launches Man Cave

Maternal and Family Health Services is committed serve every member your family – including men and boys. That’s why we’re proud to have re-launched the Man Cave on Pennsylvania’s teen health website, SafeTeens.org during June, which is National Men’s Health Month.
Designed for guys caught in the crux between boyhood and adulthood, the Man Cave had previously occupied only a small corner of the SafeTeens universe. Today, it is a major component to SafeTeens, tasked with promoting healthy behaviors and attitudes in one-half of the teen population.

The launch of the Man Cave is timely. Today’s boys are turning to violence as the only socially accepted form of emotional expression, homophobia and sexism as valid displaces of masculinity, and finding camaraderie in behaviors harmful to themselves and others. They’re four times more likely than girls to be diagnosed emotionally disturbed  and nearly seven times more likely to commit suicide .
By focusing on a question important and often personal to the teenage male, “What does it mean to be a man today?,” the Man Cave promotes a vision of manhood rooted in ethical and emotional strength as well as physical strength. At its heart is a challenge to young men to replace risky, violent, and unhealthy masculine behaviors and attitudes with responsible, empathetic and healthy behaviors and attitudes.
Using this framework, the Man Cave delves into topics like sex, safe sex, and consent and will soon delve into more topics – from sexism and homophobia to gangs and bullying – to confront social problems too often thought of as separate in an a manner that is adequate, fundamental, and holistic. With each update, we’ll strive to make the Man Cave more interactive, more relevant and more impactful.
We hope that you’ll help spread the word about the Man Cave. Maternal and Family Health Services knows that it can be a powerful tool in bringing about not only healthier and stronger young men, but also healthier and stronger families and a healthier and stronger Pennsylvania, too.