Some women expect their sons to be "hard", withdraw affection at an early age, encourage fighting to solve an argument and stand cheering their son on as he fights with another child. I realise that most of you won't have encountered these women and I really don't blame them. It is incredibly difficult to raise a boy who will have to survive in a culture where violence is the norm. Until you've had a 7 year old tell you that last night a man had a snooker cue broken over his head in the local pub you probably know little about the violence in some lives.