It seems when men first come to feminism, they begin a series of laments about the absolute lack of information about guys, about how no one notices how they suffer. This goes on for an indeterminate period of time, and the guy either A) decides feminism is "wrong" for "excluding" him and he becomes an MRA or B) he opens his eyes and realizes there are already more books and blogs about men than he can read. I took route B, after quite an overdose of complaining.
After having been a feminist for a while, I started being interested in men and masculinity and how they related to feminist theory and action, and I, too, found myself a bit frustrated at the lack of interesting theory of masculinity. But then, slowly, one recognizes that there plenty of theory to get started with.
Update: Michael Flood of xyonline notes in the comments that he has created a fairly comprehensive reading list for matters of men and masculinity, indexed in various ways. This list is very welcome, thanks Michael.
4 comments:
This is a great idea, Jeff. We should have a list of "recommended reading" in our sidebar, and link to books people can read to learn more about men and feminism.
One thing I found in my feminist theory course is that women address men ALL THE TIME in their writing - but they don't title their work "Hey Guys, Read This Because It's About You." Men just have to be a part of the larger conversation about feminism, not just the part that makes itself overtly about men. I guess that's what I meant by course B.
I've compiled a list of the 'best reading on men and masculinities' here: http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/bestreading.html#Heading1. I've included both books for the beginner, and cutting-edge texts in scholarship on men and gender.
Best wishes,
michael flood.
Andrew--Good point about feminist theory oftentimes being addressed to people of all genders. I do think that we need to be reading and writing stuff that is about masculinity in particular, and about men and masculinity--not that this is what we ought to limit ourselves to, just that some focusing on narrower topics (for a time) can be helpful.
Also, I think men oftentimes lack community (in part because of traditional conceptions of masculinity!) in a way that is healthy, and reading and writing can be a bonding experience of a sort to help build communities of men. (Of course, I'm not really sure that 'communities of men' are completely necessary, but I have a feeling they would be helpful, at least for a time.)
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