The Central New York community knows Don McPherson as the Hall-Of-Fame quarterback who led the 1987 SU football team to an undefeated season. But for the past 27 years, he’s also been working on publishing a book that tackles the tough issue of how boys are traditionally raised with macho stereotypes that impact sexual and domestic violence.
McPherson retired from the NFL back in 1994. He started working with youth through programs like Athletes Against Drunk Driving. At one event he heard someone speaking about the importance of men and masculinity. “I just came out of this world of football, this hyper-masculine world of football,” said McPherson. “When I learned about masculinity and the violence against women…it was like ‘wow’. How many ways did we perpetuate this understanding of masculinity?”
McPherson’s book was brought to a publisher 17 years ago. The publisher’s rejected the book stating that men don’t care about the topic. “Men do care. We want to be better fathers, better husbands, better sons. And that’s part of the blind spot. We don’t talk about how do we do that,” said McPherson. “How do we raise healthy boys? It’s not just a matter of being tough but how to raise our boys to be loving, caring and here’s the thing we are those things.”
McPherson’s book, “You Throw Like A Girl: The Blind Spot of Masculinity” hits the SU Bookstore on Saturday, September 14th. He’ll be on campus for a book signing starting at 1pm. He’ll also be at the Barnes and Noble on Erie Boulevard East in DeWitt Sunday, September 15th at 1pm to sign as well.
