to understand what it meant both people that are doing something want to be doing it mason said the boys also responded when faris gave an example lets say you guys are in class and you notice that one of your classmates a male puts his hand on one of your female classmates legs and doesnt have permission is that ok faris asked receiving a chorus of no from the group thats sexual harassment adam said you cant do that abc news paula faris spoke to a group of six boys aged 12 to 16 from the denver colorado area as part of a gma parenting series on raising boys who grow up to treat show more abc news when asked what it means to be a man most of the boys said they felt that in part it means to hide your emotions youve got to be mature cant show emotions adam said youve got to just be like manly dowd said that this understanding of masculinity can become dangerous as boys grow older and it is up to parents to teach their sons that such views of manhood are false these messages are very rigid for boys and men she said and theyre dangerous parents have to expand the definition of what it means to be a man abc news paula faris spoke to a group of six boys aged 12 to 16 from the denver colorado area as part of a gma parenting series on raising boys who grow up to treat show more abc news expert tips on how to talk to sons about healthy relationships dowd broke down her top four actionable tips on what parents can do to help raise boys that grow up into men who treat women as equals and with respect 1 teach teens what a caring healthy romantic relationship looks like dowd recommends approaching your teen with compassionate curiosity and openended questions to get them talking about what they think a loving relationship means talk about the difference between a healthy romantic relationship versus an unhealthy one she added dowd added that parents should point out positive relationship role models where mutual respect compromise and caring of the other occurs either in real life or on tv 2 define sexual harassment and speak up if they see it happening sexual harassment is more than just unwanted physical touching dowd said noting the importance of making sure your children understand the different forms of harassment which she outlined as below verbal harassment making sexually explicit comments jokes catcalls directed at someone cyber harassment making those same sexually explicit comments online nonverbal harassment making sexual gestures or writing sexually explicit things about someone unwanted behavior repeatedly asking someone on a date not taking no for an answer or following or stalking them parents need to be role models and teach their kids to stand up and stop harassment when they see it dowd added if you see something