Sir, - Judging by comments so far there is a good deal of unease about the programme "Exploring Masculinities" - not least because so few people have actually seen the whole of it. We are told it is a fundamental premise of this programme that masculinity is a social construct. But how do Prof Harry Ferguson and the team in the Department of Education actually know this? Are they saying that genetics plays no role here, that genes do not carry any characteristics for masculinity?
It is clear from his letter of October 5th that Prof Ferguson believes that men bear sole responsibility for violence and that they have to be reconstructed. But according to whose ideas? One is bound to ask what process of consultation preceded this programme. One would expect the views of other interested professionals to be sought - not to mention those of parents and teachers.
Fathers in particular have a major role to play in the way their sons develop into manhood. It appears that this was totally ignored. It would be a real service to the public if some means were found to publish this programme without delay. - Yours, etc.,
David Walsh, Maynooth, Co Kildare.