Leading Men: Presidential Campaigns and the Politics of Manhood

by Jackson Katz

Its no secret that there is a wide and growing gender gap in American presidential politics. Over the past thirty years, Democrats have made major gains with women, while Republicans have been doing far better with men especially white working class men. The question is why? In Leading Men, Jackson Katz offers stunning evidence that American presidential campaigns have evolved into nothing less than quadrennial referenda on competing versions of American manhood. And in the process, he never takes his eye off what this development means for women as both candidates and citizens. Written in an engaging style that will appeal to general readers, political experts, and activists alike, Katz explores some of the major political developments and offers a new way to understand the power of image in presidential politics. In the end, Leading Men offers nothing less than a paradigm-shifting way to understand the dynamics of presidential elections, and the very nature of the American presidency

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Sociology, History, Feminism

278 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2012

About the author

JacksonKatz is one of America's leading anti-sexist male activists. An educator, author, filmmaker, and cultural theorist, he is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in the field of gender violence prevention education and critical media literacy. He has lectured on hundreds of college and high school campuses and has conducted hundreds of professional trainings, seminars, and workshops in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan. He is the co-founder of the Mentors In Violence Prevention (MVP) program, the leading gender violence prevention initiative in professional and college athletics. He is the director of the first worldwide domestic and sexual violence prevention program in the United States Marine Corps. He is also the creator and co-creator of educational videos for college and high school students, including Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity (2000), Wrestling With Manhood (2002) and Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies and Alcohol (2004). His first book, "The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help," was published by Sourcebooks in 2006. Katz's second book, "Leading Men: Presidential Campaigns and the Politics of Manhood," was published by Interlink Publishing in 2012. Read more about Jackson Katz.

Reviews

[Jayden Roark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leading Men produces an insightful look at gender politics within the 20th century. It casts an intriguing and important topic in a downright boring light, as the author makes the same arguments about the same topics on every page. I never felt like I was advancing in the book, because it felt like I was stuck on the same page, as he describes how black masculinity is different from white masculinity in the same way on 30 pages. Don't get me wrong, he is clearly well versed on the subject matter he is discussing, but he tends to over explain relatively simple topics over a span of 5 pages. At most points, it feels like he just padded the book for length without incorporating any sort of substance being added to it. As the introduction acquainted the reader with it's topics of black vs white masculinity and how masculinity is more commonly associated with the republican party, he begins to repeat his arguments over and over, to the point where I was wondering whether or not I'd moved on from his overview of machismo in Chapter 3, which discusses the electoral race of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.

All in all, I feel as though this book provides a lot of valuable insight into gender and race politics, although it shoves it into your face to the point where i wouldn't even suggest reading past chapter 4, because at that point, he very closely just repeats what he'd already explained, though this time it's 30 pages later and he mentions John Kerry once or twice instead of George H.W. Bush. This book covers a very important topic that I feel as though all Americans should be aware of and do their best to learn more about, although this is certainly not the book to expand your horizons with.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, under-examined topic. As a European, I'm sometimes taken aback at how little the macho culture of American politics is really talked about. We all make fun of, for example, the Italians for their machismo; but the question of American manhood, and how that manhood is enforced and exploited by presidential races, has (at least from what I can learn after a few Google searches and reading this book) barely been written about at any great length. It's a rewarding avenue to have explored.

[mayhugh]

In Leading Men, Jackson Katz offers stunning evidence that American presidential campaigns have evolved into nothing less than quadrennial referenda on competing versions of American manhood. And in the process, he never takes his eye off what this development means for womenas both candidates and citizens.

[Amy Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! Super interesting look at gender in politics. It's not just about the under-representation of women, but also about how male politicians are feminised by their opponents and how this has been more widely utilized by republicans than democrats.