Mollycoddled men ‘have better lives’

IF boys were treated like girls as babies they would become better at self-control, work and relationships, a leading psychiatrist claimed yesterday.

Men who were “mollycoddled” as babies are more likely to be successful at work and in relationships than those who were taught to be tough, Dr Sebastian Kraemer told the British Royal College of Psychiatrists’ annual conference.

Males are more vulnerable from the start, said Dr Kraemer, who works at Whittington Hospital in London. In a lecture entitled The Fragile Male, Dr Kraemer, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, said male foetuses are more likely to die in the womb and, once born, are three weeks behind in their development than girls.