Since its original publication in 1989, Refusing to be a Man has been acclaimed as a classic and widely cited in gender studies literature. In 13 eloquent essays, Stoltenberg articulate the first fully argued liberation theory for men that will also liberate women. He argues that male sexual identity is entirely a political and ethical construction whose advantages grow out of injustice. His thesis is, however, ultimately one of hope - that precisely because masculinity is so constructed, it is possible to refuse it, to act against it and to change. A new introduction by the author discusses the roots of his work in the American civil rights and radical feminist movements and distinguishes it from the anti feminist philosophies underlying the recent tide of reactionary mens movements.

Since its original publication in 1989, this work has been widely cited in gender studies literature. In 13 essays, Stoltenberg articulates the first fully argued liberation theory for men that will also liberate women. He argues that male sexual identity is entirely a political and ethical construction whose advantages grow out of injustice. His thesis is, however, ultimately one of hope - that precisely because masculinity is so constructed, it is possible to refuse it, to act against it and to change. An introduction by the author discusses the roots of his work in the American civil rights and radical feminist movements and distinguishes it from the anti-feminist philosophies underlying the recent tide of reactionary mens movements.

Sexual spaces, normally inhabited by (mostly) female sex workers, are understood as masculine spaces, and positioned for and around male consumers. However, red light zones and public sex performances in both Thailand and Holland are being explored and visually consumed by female tourists in significant numbers. Their presence in red light districts and sexual venues is at odds with the ways in which sexual spaces have normally been positioned. Woman and Sex Tourism Landscapes explores female tourists' interactions with highly sexualized spaces and places in two very different contexts: the Netherlands and Thailand. Addressing this incongruence, this text explores the ways in which these spaces are constructed, and examines the different relations that govern the management of, and female tourist interactions with these liminal,sexual zones. Ethnographic data collected in both countries suggests that far from being male-centred spaces, the red light districts and associated sexual entertainment venues are very much open to female tourists. Drawing on this research the author argues that some women are indeed interested in exploring sexualized zones, challenging assumptions about women's involvements with sexual space. Thinking specifically about the visual nature of women's sexualized experiences, the analysis draws on a range of different theoretical understandings that address power, privilege, and the gaze. An important contribution to a range of debates, this book will appeal to students and researchers in tourism, geography, sociology, gender studies and cultural theory.

Series Information:
New Middle Ages

This is a study of masculinity as a metaphor and especially of the muscular male body as a moral symbol. It explores the Nazi's preoccupation with the male body as an icon of political power, and the ideology and theories which propelled it.

This book takes as its focus the construction of masculinity in Western Europe from the early Middle Ages until the fifteenth century, crossing from pre-Christian Scandinavia across western Christendom. The essays consult a broad and representative cross section of sources including the work of theological, scholastic, and monastic writers, sagas, hagiography and memoirs, material culture, chronicles, exampla and vernacular literature, sumptuary legislation, and the records of ecclesiastical courts. The studies address questions of what constituted male identity, and male sexuality. How was masculinity constructed in different social groups? How did the secular and ecclesiastical ideals of masculinity reinforce each other or diverge? These essays address the topic of medieval men and, through a variety of theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary approaches, significantly extend our understanding of how, in the Middle Ages, masculinity and identity were conflicted and multifarious.

This collection of specially commissioned essays provides the first social history of masculinity in the 'long eighteenth century'. Drawing on diaries, court records and prescriptive literature, it explores the different identities of late Stuart and Georgian men. The heterosexual fop, the homosexual, the polite gentleman, the blackguard, the man of religion, the reader of erotica and the violent aggressor are each examined here, and in the process a new and increasingly important field of historical enquiry is opened up to the non-specialist reader. The book opens with a substantial introduction by the Editors. This provides readers with a detailed context for the chapters which follow. The core of the book is divided into four main parts looking at sociability, virtue and friendship, violence, and sexuality. Within this framework each chapter forms a self-contained unit, with its own methodology, sources and argument. The chapters address issues such as the correlations between masculinity and Protestantism; masculinity, Englishness and taciturnity; and the impact of changing representations of homosexual desire on the social organisation of heterosexuality. Misogyny, James Boswell's self-presentation, the literary and metaphorical representation of the body, the roles of gossip and violence in men's lives, are each addressed in individual chapters. The volume is concluded by a wide-ranging synoptic essay by John Tosh, which sets a new agenda for the history of masculinity. An extensive guide to further reading is also provided. Designed for students, academics and the general reader alike, this collection of essays provides a wide-ranging and accessible framework within which to understand eighteenth-century men. Because of the variety of approaches and conclusions it contains, and because this is the first attempt to bring together a comprehensive set of writings on the social history of eighteenth-century masculinity, this volume does something quite new. It de-centres and problematises the male 'standard' and explores the complex and disparate masculinites enacted by the men of this period. This will be essential reading for anyone interested in eighteenth-century British social history.

Charles Baudelaire's flaneur, as described in his 1863 essay "The Painter of Modern Life," remains central to understandings of gender, space, and the gaze in late nineteenth-century Paris, despite misgivings by some scholars. Baudelaire's privileged and leisurely figure, at home on the boulevards, underlies theorizations of bourgeois masculinity and, by implication, bourgeois femininity, whereby men gaze and roam urban spaces unreservedly while women, lacking the freedom to either gaze or roam, are wedded to domesticity. In challenging this tired paradigm and offering fresh ways to consider how gender, space, and the gaze were constructed, this book attends to several neglected elements of visual and written culture: the ubiquitous male beggar as the true denizen of the boulevard, the abundant depictions of well-to-do women looking (sometimes at men), the popularity of windows and balconies as viewing perches, and the overwhelming emphasis given by both male and female artists to domestic scenes. The book's premise that gender, space, and the gaze have been too narrowly conceived by a scholarly embrace of Baudelaire's flaneur is supported across the cultural spectrum by period sources that include art criticism, high and low visual culture, newspapers, novels, prescriptive and travel literature, architectural practices, interior design trends, and fashion journals.

First published in 1987, this book encompasses a broad range interdisciplinary research into homosexuality - displaying a full spectrum of points of view - and, given that the major traditions of modern homosexual research began in Europe, is not restricted to works in English.. In general topics that are densely covered in the literature are presented in this guide selectively, with some less studied topics, such as Economics and Music, fleshed out with signposts to more comprehensive research. It seeks to not only mirror existing publications, but also to stimulate new work by pinpointing neglected themes and methods. This book will be of interest to students of sociology.

This is the first book to focus on the relationships which men formed with their wives in early modern England, making it an important contribution to a new understanding of English, social, family, and gender history. Dr Foyster redresses the balance of historical research which has largely concentrated on the public lives of prominent men. The book looks at youth and courtship before marriage, male fears of their wives' gossip and sexual betrayal, and male friendships before and after marriage. Highlighted throughout is the importance of sexual reputation. Based on both legal records and fictional sources, this is a fascinating insight into the personal lives of ordinary men and women in early modern England.

'An impressive and meticulously crafted African ethnography, which has theoretical and practical relevance for understanding masculinity and violence in general'- David Parkin, Professor of Anthropology, Cambridge University Manhood and Morality explores issues of male identity among the Gisu of Uganda and the moral dilemma faced by men who define themselves by their capacity for violence. Drawing extensively on twenty years of fieldwork and on psychological theory the book covers: circumcision
Oedipal feelings
witchcraft
deviance
joking
sexuality
and ethnicity.
This ethnographic study challenges our preconceptions of manhood, especially African virility, inviting a wider re-evaluation of masculinity.

Manhood and Morality explores issues of male identity among the Gisu of Uganda and the moral dilemma faced by men who define themselves by their capacity for violence. Drawing extensively on twenty years of fieldwork and on psychological theory the book covers: circumcision
Oedipal feelings
witchcraft
deviance
joking
sexuality
and ethnicity.
This ethnographic study challenges our preconceptions of manhood, especially African virility, inviting a wider re-evaluation of masculinity.

Men Who Sell Sex is the first comprehensive international account of male prostitution and AIDS. While much is known about female prostitution and sex work, relatively little is known about men who sell sex - either to women or other men. This book brings together an authoritative collection of essays from different countries and examines sexual behaviour, the reasons men sell sex, the meanings involved, and implications for HIV prevention. The authors are all experts in their fields and individual chapters offer a compelling description of the reasons men sell sex and the pleasures and risks involved.

'This book contains a wealth of different opinions and arguments which sum up present thoughts in the field of gender studies very well.' - JACT Review

This book is about the modernist narrative voice and its correlation to medical, mythological, and psychoanalytic images of emasculation between 1919 and 1945. It shows how special-effects of rhetoric and form inspired by outre modernist developments in psychoanalysis, occultism, and negative philosophy reshaped both narrative structure and the literary depiction of modern masculine identity. In acknowledging early twentieth-century Anglo-American literature's self-conscious and self-reflexive understanding of the effect of textual production, this engaging new study depicts a history of writers and readers understanding the role of textual absence in the development and chronicling of masculine anxiety and optimism.

Using the storyThe Frog Princeas a symbol of traditional awareness of the potential marginality of men in society, Transforming Menproposes that much of patriarchy is a theatrical illusion. Presenting men as more important and powerful than they really are should be seen as a way of controlling them, rather than as a system for dominating women. The author believes that both men and women need to feel that other people are dependent on them.

Dench states that women acquire a sense of responsibility through the direct dependence of children, but most men can only come to experience responsibility via women. If women reject the male breadwinning role, then men will never develop the altruistic incentive. Dench urges that men need to be given a greater stake than women in the public realm in order to be the main family providers and become caring members of society. Dispensing with male privileges and formal positions, the author continues, will simply reveal and revive older and deeper problems, to which patriarchy itself was a historical and sociological solution.

Dench does not deny the possibility that if men did behave as feminists have asked or expected, then certainly we would be living in a far better world. However, he asserts that it is too simple to just blame men for the fact that this has not happened; perhaps the real failure lies in feminist approaches and theories. Thus, Dench persuasively argues that feminism may be making the male problem worse, not better by insisting on everything from absolute parity to role reversal.

Transforming Mencontains examples of many different feminist viewpoints, including those of Margaret Mead, Betty Friedan, and Camille Paglia. It also uses contemporary cultural instances, such as popular movies, television shows, and books, to emphasize its points. This volume presents an intriguing argument regarding feminism versus a patriarchal society. It will provide stimulating reading for all those interested in the feminist debate.

The relation between feminism and men is often presumed to be antagonistic, so that men are expected to resist feminism, and feminists are assumed to hate men. That pattern of opposition is disrupted, however, by the continually increasing numbers of men who are participating in feminist theory and practice, trying to integrate feminist perspectives into their scholarship, teaching, work, play, friendships, and romantic involvements. Responses to this male feminism have varied. Sometimes male feminists find some female feminists critical of men who oppose or decline to join feminist projects, but also rebuff the few men who do undertake feminist projects. On the other hand, some women feminists have unequivocally welcomed men as allies in political, business, religious, and academic contexts. The essays in "Men Doing Feminism" reveal that there is justification for both views, the skeptical and the enthusiastic, because feminist men are as diverse as feminist women.
Many of the eighteen contributors to this book--women, men, blacks, whites, gays, straights, transsexuals--use personal narrative to show ways that men's lives can shape their approaches to doing feminism and to convey the opportunities and challenges involved in integrating feminism into a man's life. Some authors argue that men's experiences prepare them to make contributions that are of crucial importance to feminist theory. Others argue that men must radically reform, or even abandon manhood and masculinity if they are to be feminists.
In "Men Doing Feminism," feminist theory is used to illuminate men's lives, and men's lives serve as a basis for feminist theory.
Contributors: Michael Awkward, SusanBordo, Harry Brod, Tom Digby, Judith K. Gardiner, C. Jacob Hale, Sandra Harding, Patrick Hopkins, Joy James, David Kahane, Michael Kimmel, Gary Lemons, Larry May, Brian Pronger, Henry Rubin, Richard Schmitt, James P. Sterba, Laurence Mordekhai Thomas, and Thomas E. Wartenberg.

A fresh look at the balance of responsibilities and control in care-giving, both in the public and private spheres. Using previously unpublished empirical data, contributors focus on male experiences of welfare services.

Series Information:
New Middle Ages

Somewhere along the way, our culture lost its definition of manhood, leaving generations of men and men-to-be confused about their roles, responsibilities, relationships, and the reason God made them men. It's into this "no man's land" that New York Times bestselling author Mark Batterson declares his mantra for manhood: play the man. In this inspiring call to something greater, he helps men understand what it means to be a man of God by unveiling seven virtues of manhood. Mark shares inspiring stories of manhood, including the true story of the hero and martyr Polycarp, who first heard the voice from heaven say, "Play the man." Mark couples those stories with practical ideas about how to disciple the next generation of men. This is more than a book; it's a movement of men who will settle for nothing less than fulfilling their highest calling to be the man and the father God has destined them to be. Play the man. Make the man.

"Fashioning Masculinity" is a comparison of Anglo-French relations in the eighteenth century, themes of gender, nationality, identity and masculinity with perceptions of today. The fashioning of English gentlemen in the eighteenth century was modelled on French practices. At the same time, however, the French and their language were disparaged. Michele Cohen show how cultural relations between the two states were constructed as relations of seduction and desire. There was anxiety on the part of the English over the effect of French practices on English masculinity and the virtue of English women. By the end of the century representing the French as an effeminate Other was integral to the forging of English, masculine, national identity. Taciturnity became emblematic of the English gentleman's depth of mind and masculinity. Sprightly conversation and speaking foreign languages was seen as representing the shallow and inferior intellect of English women, and of the French of both sexes.

The volumes in this set, originally published between 1999 and 2003, draw together early works in social theory by leading sociologist Anthony Elliott. The collection covers some of his major works in the field of social theory, with a paticular focus on psychoanalysis, and social theorists within the area of sociology. The works in this set make accessible previously unavailable works from the early stages of Anthony Elliott's ongoing and prolific career to date.

Addressing the relationship between masculinity, war, and violence, this book covers these themes broadly and across different disciplines. These analyses are located at different levels: public policies at the macro level; resistance and independence movements at the meso level; and masculine subjectivities, processes of mobilization, and radicalization at the micro level. The ten contributions encompass four recurring themes: violent masculinities and how contemporary societies and regimes cope with traditional violent rituals and extreme violence against women; popular written and visual fiction about war and masculine rationalities; gender relations in social movements of rebellion and national transformation; and masculinity in civil society under conditions of war and post-war. Taking into account different geographical contexts, the book emphasizes the relationship between the local and the global as well as the importance of understanding gender and masculinity in their intersectional interrelations with religion, race, ethnicity, class, and locality. This book was originally published as a special issue of NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies.