From Panthers to Promise Keepers: Rethinking the Men's Movement

by Judith Newton

Written for a general audience, From Panthers to Promise Keepers draws on years of readings about, interviews with, and intimate observations of the men and networks who were involved in what some have called 'the men's movement.' Focusing on the decades between 1950 and 2000 in the U.S., From Panthers to Promise Keepers places networks of gay men and of black men (and women) at the center of its investigations, exploring some of the unexpected ways in which these seemingly marginal networks were precursors to, rather than mere followers of, the white and heterosexual men's groups that followed and that became the objects of media attention. This study also demonstrates that networks with radically different positions on important social issues nonetheless shared two related activities―criticizing individualist, self-making values and attempting, through surprisingly similar ritual practices, to construct ideals of masculinity that were more expressive of vulnerability, tenderness, and care. Men's politically varied efforts to refashion masculine ideals during the last 50 years have contributed to a different global climate with respect to masculinities. Near the end of the 1990s, agencies such as UNESCO helped the reform of masculine ideals become more widely seen as a necessary component of movements for social justice and a 'culture of peace.' Current efforts to revive a more aggressive and force-based masculine ideal, a 'masculinity for a culture of war,' are one of many testaments to the cultural resonance of what has been called 'the men's movement.'

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1994

About the author

Judith Newton is Professor Emerita in Women and Gender Studies at U.C. Davis. While at U.C. Davis she directed the Women and Gender Studies program and the Consortium for Women and Research.

Her food memoir, TASTING HOME, received the following critical acclaim:

Starred Review (outstanding in its genre)in Publisher's Weekly Select.

First prize, autobiography, in the London Book Festival.

Silver,Women's Studies, ForeWord Book of the Year Awards.

Bronze,memoir,Independent Publishers's Awards.


Finalist, autobiography, from Reader's Favorite.

Honorable mentions in the Hollywood and Southern California Book Festivals.

Finalist, autobiography, Reader’s Favorite.

"Approved" Status from Independent Reader

Finalist, memoir, National Indie Excellence Book Awards.

Honorable Mentions in San Francisco and New York Book Festivals


Two first place and four finalist awards in Womensmemoir.com Memoir Contests.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR



She is the author and co-editor of five works of nonfiction on nineteenth-century British women writers, feminist criticism, women’s history, and men’s movements.

Read an essay based on her memoir at Judith Newton Huffington Post.

Her most current work appears at Judith Newton Huffington Post.

in Seasons of Our Lives: Summer (womensmemoir.com 2014);

Roots: Where Food Comes From and Where It Takes Us:A BlogHer Anthology (2013);

in The Redwood Coast Review (Winter 2012) and poetalk (Summer, 2011); at http://tasting-home.com and at http://ipinionsyndicate.com/.

She is currently at work on a screenplay and lives in the East Bay of California where she tends her garden.

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great initial survey of the "mens movement". Only, in writing about the "movement" it becomes clear that there are have been many organized attempts made by men to reshape masculine values and they don't fit into neat categorical politics boxes. Reading this book expanded my understanding of gender politics and gave great historical examples of different groups of men that have challenged masculine norms in a variety of ways. MUST READ for any guy with a burgeoning interest in gender politics.