{
  "id": 14021576,
  "title": "‘You have to man up’ – Kobby Kyei on the hidden cost of silence for Ghana’s boys",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/12/you-have-to-man-up-kobby-kyei-on-the-hidden-cost-of-silence-for",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-12T18:08:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/you-have-to-man-up-blogger-kobby-kyei-on-the-hidden-cost-of-silence-for-ghanas-boys/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The phrase “man up” has permeated Ghanaian society, appearing often in homes, churches, and classrooms, to the point of becoming an unremarkable instruction. However, for online journalist and advocate Kobby Kyei, those two words represent a conversation that Ghana has been neglecting. During an interview on Lifestyle with Rosie, Kyei traced the expectation back to his own childhood, highlighting the church, school, and peer environments where boys were routinely instructed to suppress fear, hide distress, and project bravery, regardless of their actual experiences. He explained, “You have to man up. You don’t have to show your emotions. You have to be brave. Mentally, if you are going through something, there’s nobody to share it with.”\n\nThe consequences of this expectation, according to Kyei, extend far beyond suppressed emotions. He cited examples of friends from his upbringing who were sexually abused by teachers and maids in their homes, yet had no clear avenue to disclose the abuse due to an expectation of stoicism and a culture that lacked structures for boys to report such incidents. Kyei lamented, “I have friends that were sexually abused and molested, and as we speak now, they were not able to share it. Teachers were sleeping with them. Their maids were sleeping with them. And who do you complain to?”\n\nThis absence of a clear, culturally sanctioned space for boys to openly discuss their experiences forms the core of Kyei’s advocacy. His campaign, promoted through social media and a T-shirt he wore during the interview, serves as a direct response to decades of public attention that has predominantly focused on the girl child, neglecting the needs and struggles of boys in Ghana.",
  "summary": "The phrase lands often enough in Ghanaian homes, churches and classrooms that it barely registers as instruction anymore: man up. But for online journalist and “Boys' Life Matters” advocate Kobby Kyei, those two words sit at the centre of a conversation he believes Ghana has been avoiding.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}