Misframing Men

Collection of Kimmel's commentaries on contemporary debates about masculinity.

This past decade has witnessed an extraordinary transformation in men's lives. For years, wave after wave of the women's movement, a movement that reshaped every aspect of American life, produced nary a ripple among men. But suddenly men are in the spotlight. Yet, the public discussions often seem strained, silly, and sometimes flat-out wrong. The spotlight itself seems to obscure as much as it illuminates. Old tired clichTs about men's resistance to romantic commitment or reluctance to be led to the marriage altar seem perennially recyclable in advice books and on TV talk shows, but these days the laughter feels more forced, the defensiveness more pronounced. Pop biologists avoid careful confrontation with serious scientific research in their quest to find anatomical or evolutionary bases for promiscuity or porn addiction, hoping that by fiat, one can pronounce that "boys will be boys" and render it more than a flaccid tautology. And political pundits wring their hands about the feminization of American manhood, as if gender equality has neutered these formerly proud studs. Misframing Men, a collection of Michael Kimmel's commentaries on contemporary debates about masculinity, argues that the media have largely misframed this debate. Kimmel, among the world's best-known scholars in gender studies, discusses political moments such as the Virginia Military Institute and Citadel cases that reached the Supreme Court (he participated as expert witness for the Justice Department) along with Promise Keepers rallies, mythopoetic gatherings, and white supremacists. He takes on antifeminists as the real male bashers, questions the unsubstantiated assertions that men suffer from domestic violence to the same degree as women, and examines the claims made by those who want to rescue boys from the "misandrous" reforms initiated by feminism. In writings both solidly grounded and forcefully argued, Kimmel pushes the boundaries of today's modern conversation about men and masculinity.

In Manhood Impossible, Scott Melzer argues that boys’ and men’s bodies and breadwinner status are the two primary sites for their expression of control. Controlling selves and others, and resisting being dominated and controlled is most connected to men’s bodies and work. However, no man can live up to these culturally ascendant ideals of manhood. The strategies men use to manage unmet expectations often prove toxic, not only for men themselves, but also for other men, women, and society. Melzer strategically explores the lives of four groups of adult men struggling with contemporary body and breadwinner ideals. These case studies uncover men’s struggles to achieve and maintain manhood, and redefine what it means to be a man.

There continues to be much concern about the retention and persistent of men in college, particularly Black, Latinx, and Native American men. In addition, queer and trans* men also have found institutions to be problematic spaces. For those who do persist, we know that men are overrepresented in student conduct cases and engage in risky behaviors around alcohol, drug use, and sexual relationships. Additionally, we know that college men have historically avoided engaging in help-seeking behaviors for their academic and personal success. This book addresses the ways that theory can be put into practice for powerful, transformative learning to support college men and their development.This book synthesizes the research of the past three decades on college men to inform college student educators on the developmental needs of college men and illuminates how young men are socialized prior to their arrival to campus, but perhaps more importantly, how the collegiate environment becomes a training ground for the socialization of masculinities by students, their peers, and their environments.Beyond that, it sets out how practitioners can help young men understand why and how they have been socialized around their gender identity, but also what their gender identity and sense of masculinity means for their future selves. The book highlights programs and services designed to have college men engage with and dialogue around issues of hegemonic, toxic, or unhealthy aspects of masculinity. These promising practices can offer college men opportunities to understand their power, privilege, and identity in ways that can be affirming and healthier, leading to more life-giving chances. This is all the more important in the context of an ever-evolving society where traditionally held norms and expectations around gender--particularly masculinities--are shifting. This book equips student affairs staff, faculty, and administrators to better support college men’s development. It offers readers insights, ideas, and models for adapting and developing programs, services, and initiatives that may meaningfully meet the needs of specific student populations, while recognizing that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to this work.

One of the headlines of the 2012 Presidential campaign was the demise of the white American male voter as a dominant force in the political landscape. On election night four years later, when Donald Trump was announced the winner, it became clear that the white American male voter is alive and well and angry as hell. Sociologist Michael Kimmel, one of the leading writers on men and masculinity in the world today, has spent hundreds of hours in the company of America's angry white men - from white supremacists to men's rights activists to young students. In Angry White Men, he presents a comprehensive diagnosis of their fears, anxieties, and rage. Kimmel locates this increase in anger in the seismic economic, social and political shifts that have so transformed the American landscape. Downward mobility, increased racial and gender equality, and a tenacious clinging to an anachronistic ideology of masculinity has left many men feeling betrayed and bewildered. Raised to expect unparalleled social and economic privilege, white men are suffering today from what Kimmel calls "aggrieved entitlement": a sense that those benefits that white men believed were their due have been snatched away from them. Angry White Men discusses, among others, the sons of small town America, scarred by underemployment and wage stagnation. When America's white men feel they've lived their lives the 'right' way - worked hard and stayed out of trouble - and still do not get economic rewards, then they have to blame somebody else. Even more terrifying is the phenomenon of angry young boys. School shootings in the United States are not just the work of "misguided youth" or "troubled teens" -- they're all committed by boys. These alienated young men are transformed into mass murderers by a sense that using violence against others is their right. The election of Donald Trump proved that angry white men can still change the course of history. Here, Kimmel argues that they should walk openly and honorably alongside those they've spent so long trying to exclude, in order to be happier and healthier.

Involving men to stop violence against women is a global trend, with celebrity-endorsed campaigns such as HeforShe and White Ribbon being hailed as progress in changing male behaviour. But the question remains: Has men’s involvement resulted in positive change, or has it reinforced the belief that women need to be rescued by men? Involving Men in Ending Violence against Women provides a feminist analysis of men’s motivations for joining violence against women’s movement. Through extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan, Pakistan and East Timor, this innovative title explores the roles men play in violence against women programs. Indeed, while there are growing voices that question male advocacy and activism in the violence against women campaign, this is the first monograph which provides empirical and critical analysis of how men’s feminist involvement is translated into benevolent patriarchy. Seeking to subvert mainstream narratives which accept male activism without questions, this controversial yet enlightening title will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, including postdoctoral researchers, interested in fields such as Gender and Sexualities, Political Science, Feminist Studies and Southeast Asian Studies.