Rock legend, 80, outraged by controversial claim about women

His comments, delivered as the band retires after six decades, have reignited the debate about gender, privilege and whose struggles are heard.

The Who musician said men have long been conditioned to suppress emotions and endure pain without complaining, a pattern he believes continues today.

He framed his argument through personal anecdotes and memories from his early career, emphasizing that the expectations placed on young men are rarely acknowledged.

Townshend said: “I grew up in this strange period, but I think even today I’m going to extend it here. I’m going to get into politics and sociology, it’s hard to be a young man. It’s harder to be a young man than a young woman. Sorry to have to say that. We’re not appreciated. People don’t realize that we hide so much of our emotions.”

He expanded on this point and linked masculinity to physical endurance and sports.

“We play sports as a way to validate ourselves, and when we play sports, we are told to endure the pain,” he added.

Townshend then recalled an onstage incident in New York, saying, “I remember cutting my hand on a guitar in Madison Square Garden and the hockey guy came up and said, ‘Do you want me to fix that?’

“And he took a staple gun and said, ‘Budum, budum, budum,’ and the next day it was fixed. That’s what young men are saddled with.’

Women’s activists reacted angrily, saying the comments ignored the structural inequality women face.

A spokesperson for a British-based feminist advocacy group told us: “These comments are completely outrageous and read as misogynistic. By suggesting that young men have it harder than young women, it dismisses the ongoing issues around pay gaps, violence and reproductive rights.”

Another campaigner added that Townshend’s framing “centers men’s discomfort and erases women’s realities”.

Townshend also revisited the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, arguing that the introduction of the birth control pill reshaped gender dynamics and popular music at the time.

Looking back on his childhood, he said: “Another thing happened… 1966, I think it was… girls were put on the pill. Suddenly every woman in London changed. They all became different people.”

He continued: “They became interested in boys, each other, life and having fun before they got married and had children. It made a big difference.”

The guitarist said these shifts influenced his songwriting and led him away from the romantic themes of previous generations.

He added: “The music of my father’s time was, ‘Let’s fall in love, let’s be in love.’ It was all romantic. And so, in the work that I did, I tried to write music for the kids that I grew up with. So The Who became a band for boys, and Quadrophenia is about boys.”

The rock opera QuadropheniaWritten solely by Townshend, it follows a young mod named Jimmy as he struggles with identity and self-worth and became one of the band’s defining albums.

The comments come as Townshend and his bandmates prepare for their final North American tour dates, which were announced last year, ending a 60-year career repeatedly intersected with debates about youth, rebellion and social change.