‘Teach our young boys respect and empathy for women’: Stephen Graham uses book launch to share powerful plea
At the promotional event for his book Letters To Our Sons, the actor made candid and urgent comments about the current safety of women
After the conversations sparked by his multi-award winning, record breaking Netflix series Adolescence, Stephen Graham announced a global project to keep the show's message going in October last year.
The show took an unflinching look at the urgent problem of toxic masculinity and the manosphere, highlighting the frightening reality of rising violence against women the world currently faces.
The actor's post-Adolescence project has now arrived, and takes the form of a book called Letters To Our Sons.
For the book, Stephen issued an open call for fathers from all over the world to write to their sons about what it means to be a man. Their letters have now been compiled in to a book about masculinity and published by Bloomsbury.
Many high profile actors, athletes, musicians and presenters also contributed to the book - Javier Bardem, Danny Dyer, Louis Theroux, Romesh Ranganathan and Tom Daley are just a handful of celebrities to pen a letter for inclusion.
At a promotional event for Letters To Our Sons, Stephen issued a powerful plea about the urgent need to combat violence faced by women and girls, calling to the government to take tougher action against it.
According to The Mirror, the actor used his platform to share a real story about a young boy who was detained for only six months after stabbing a girl.
"He didn't kill her, but he stabbed her violently and viciously and yet I think he got something like six months," he said.
Stephen continues, "We need to look at this system." He points out, "Women aren't afraid of women breaking into their houses, women aren't afraid of women raping them, women aren't afraid of women who violently attack them... women are afraid of men."
Offering thoughts about what needs to happen to take on this growing problem, Stephen says, "We need to look at that as a society and we need to look at ourselves and we need to start this conversation at a very young age and we need to make sure we fill our boys, our young men, with the capabilities to be masculine."
He adds, "But we need to really look at that and start to teach our young boys respect, compassion and empathy for women."
The actor also shared how to create a space for those conversations. "We need to listen. We need to give [our children] a platform to be able to talk to us and let us into what's going on in their world," he says.
Stephen continues, "Make sure you spend the time to get to speak to your children on what's going on and give them that safe place to talk. Knock on the door, begin those lines of communication, talk to them, make sure there's an environment where you can be honest and you can be open and be curious, ask questions, don't be afraid to ask questions."
The actor candidly reveals that although he's surrounded by people who love him, that's something he's "worked really hard to get."
He urges people not to be afraid to "bare" their soul and emotions, asking, "What is there to be afraid of?" He understands that all relationships take work, particularly those with your children.
He concludes that being present is one of the best gifts a child can be given by their parent. "To be present is the most beautiful thing we have," he says.
The actor worked with psychology lecturer Orly Klein on Letters To Our Sons, and the inspiration for it came from something she did for her own son.
For his 13th birthday, the psychologist "asked a load of men who we loved and admired to write him a letter on what they believe makes a good man, and what they wished they'd known when they were younger."
She then "ended up with all these amazing letters full of nuggets of wisdom, and life lessons for him to carry through now for the rest of his life in becoming a man."
Stephen Graham and Orly Klein will make a donation for every letter published in the book, which will go to the charity MANUP? and the social enterprise Dad La Soul - both organisations help young men struggling with mental their health.
All episodes of Adolescence are available to stream on Netflix.
