‘Crisis of masculinity’ harming Britain, Hackney MP Diane Abbott warns

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington

Traditional family bonds must be bolstered to deal with a “crisis of masculinity” harming Britain, Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott is claiming today.

Ms Abbott, Labour’s shadow public health minister, is this morning headlining an event to mark the 20th birthday of think tank Demos where she is arguing rapid economic and social change has created a number of largely unspoken problems for men.

Ms Abbott has previously warned that an “increasingly pornified” culture is having a damaging impact on men, citing cases of online sexual bullying and calling for a revolution in sex education to combat the problem.

She claims problems faced by a generation of young men are being ignored owing to a reluctance to talk about masculinity, and warns of a “transit generation” stuck in unrewarding service industry jobs or in unemployment and increasingly unable to support themselves.

She also says fathers must play more of a role in family life and support their sons growing up to avoid them being lost to society.

Her speech says: “Look at many of our young men graduating from university this year. Faced with mass unemployment and often unable to fly the nest they can find themselves locked into a transitional phase at home, or find themselves voluntarily creating an extended adolescence, sometimes resentful of family life.”