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Replacing MisandryA Revolutionary History of Men |
eBook Available
After ten thousand years of technological and cultural revolutions that have all but severed the relation between maleness and masculinity, have men become obsolete?
In the first three volumes of this series, Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young challenge theories about patriarchy that ideological forms of feminism have promoted. In this volume, they argue that we must replace those misandric theories with one that takes seriously the needs and problems of boys and men no less than those of girls and women; at the same time, they add, we must maintain the reforms that egalitarian forms of feminism have promoted. With both factors in mind, they trace the history of men - that is, culturally organized perceptions of the male body and its masculine functions - over the past ten thousand years. They show how these perceptions have evolved in connection with a series of technological and cultural revolutions: horticultural, agricultural, industrial, military, and now reproductive.
This new approach sets the stage for understanding a profound and growing problem that our society must face: the increasing inability of boys and men to create or sustain a healthy collective identity. The authors define this as an identity that is distinctive, necessary, and therefore publicly valued. Without a healthy and positive identity, two current trends will continue: giving up (dropping out of school, society, or even life itself) and attacking a society that has no room for men specifically as men, believing that even a negative identity, acted out in antisocial ways, is better than none at all.
This new approach sets the stage for understanding a profound and growing problem that our society must face: the increasing inability of boys and men to create or sustain a healthy collective identity. The authors define this as an identity that is distinctive, necessary, and therefore publicly valued. Without a healthy and positive identity, two current trends will continue: giving up (dropping out of school, society, or even life itself) and attacking a society that has no room for men specifically as men, believing that even a negative identity, acted out in antisocial ways, is better than none at all.
Details
244 Pages, 6 x 9
ISBN 9780773545533
October 2015
Formats: Cloth, eBook
“This is a brilliant advance, a tour de force. There is nothing quite like it in terms of historical sweep and analytical depth, and all imbued with humanism. The scholarship is excellent, the topic is well researched, the text is well written, and the arguments are clear, calm, and cogent.” Anthony Synnott, Concordia University and author of Rethinking Men: Heroes, Villains, and Victims
"The importance of Replacing Misandry and its authors’ earlier volumes on the disparagement of boys and men in contemporary culture cannot be underestimated. Nathanson and Young have pioneered in identifying and naming a dangerous cultural trend that threatens to divide men from women in the postmodern West. Meticulously researched and written from a multidisciplinary perspective, when read closely and seriously this historical survey of the notion of embodied manhood cannot fail to evoke a responsible critique of ideological feminism and promote a strengthening of much-needed intersexual dialogue. It draws to the attention of anyone with boys and men in their lives-fathers, sons, friends, male partners-the precarious situation in which all of us find ourselves when we fail to attend to the importance of understanding the experience of being male. Nathanson and Young avoid contentiousness in favor of an incisive presentation of the story of the appearance of manhood in culture." Miles Groth, Wagner College, and the editor of New Male Studies: An International Journal.
"Written in engaging and readable prose and built on a rich multidisciplinary source base, this work will appeal to a wide audience, most especially to those with interests in history, gender studies, and cultural anthropology. Highly recommended." Choice
"The importance of Replacing Misandry and its authors’ earlier volumes on the disparagement of boys and men in contemporary culture cannot be underestimated. Nathanson and Young have pioneered in identifying and naming a dangerous cultural trend that threatens to divide men from women in the postmodern West. Meticulously researched and written from a multidisciplinary perspective, when read closely and seriously this historical survey of the notion of embodied manhood cannot fail to evoke a responsible critique of ideological feminism and promote a strengthening of much-needed intersexual dialogue. It draws to the attention of anyone with boys and men in their lives-fathers, sons, friends, male partners-the precarious situation in which all of us find ourselves when we fail to attend to the importance of understanding the experience of being male. Nathanson and Young avoid contentiousness in favor of an incisive presentation of the story of the appearance of manhood in culture." Miles Groth, Wagner College, and the editor of New Male Studies: An International Journal.
"Written in engaging and readable prose and built on a rich multidisciplinary source base, this work will appeal to a wide audience, most especially to those with interests in history, gender studies, and cultural anthropology. Highly recommended." Choice
Paul Nathanson is a retired researcher in the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University.
Katherine K. Young is professor emerita in the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University. They are the co-authors of Spreading Misandry, Legalizing Misandry, and Sanctifying Misandry.
Katherine K. Young is professor emerita in the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University. They are the co-authors of Spreading Misandry, Legalizing Misandry, and Sanctifying Misandry.
Acknowledgments vii
Prologue: A Revolutionary Theory ix
1 From Hunter to Urbanite: The Neolithic and Agricultural Revolutions 3
2 From Peasant to Proletarian: The Industrial Revolution 38
3 From Subject to Conscript: The Military Revolution 60
4 From Father to Sperm Donor: The Sexual and Reproductive Revolutions 96
Epilogue: Postmodern Man 137
Notes 141
Index 211
Prologue: A Revolutionary Theory ix
1 From Hunter to Urbanite: The Neolithic and Agricultural Revolutions 3
2 From Peasant to Proletarian: The Industrial Revolution 38
3 From Subject to Conscript: The Military Revolution 60
4 From Father to Sperm Donor: The Sexual and Reproductive Revolutions 96
Epilogue: Postmodern Man 137
Notes 141
Index 211
