Sociology and psychology
In the last half of the last decade, the Me Too movement took off and exposed many men who were guilty of violence against women, molestation, stalking, or other kinds of sexual mistreatment against women. Orenstein decides to take a more scientific approach by analyzing male subjects within an impressionable age range to find how they are faring in establishing their private morals as far as sexuality and engagement with partners is concerned. Instead of being strictly moral, finding the evil of sexual violence, she is able to scientifically deduce more easily-addressable mistakes in sex education.
Sexual misconduct and morality
Instead of starting with a moral definition of sexuality in mind, Orenstein turns the focus onto her subjects, asking them evocative questions about their own personal morality. This is important, because it allows a more clear portrait of morality to emerge; people have an ongoing conversation with their community about what is acceptable, and without guidance, a person's morality can easily be misinformed by other social cues like when boys feel tasked to behave with enough masculinity. Those urges to be masculine often warp into urges to be powerful over partners, often at the expense of the other person's volition. She is attempting to isolate the threads of cultural assumption that lead to rape or sexual indecency.
Toxic masculinity
Instead of just saying, "Masculinity is toxic!" Orenstein uses a more trustworthy approach. She asks the young men she interviews how they feel about masculinity. They report that they often suffer from shame as if they were not masculine enough, but then when further investigated, they often lacked a formal definition of what masculinity means. The answer often came down to power and control. Their sense for masculinity became toxic when they began to believe that masculinity meant attaining power, even when they lacked important information (like consent, importantly). Many young men reported that a lack of pride in their masculinity made them fearful of asking for help or learning what they didn't already know.
