The Future of Men: Men on Trial

by Jack Myers

In Jack Myers prescient book, TheFuture of Men on Trial, he predicted the current wave of exposure ofmale harassment, indecency and shame. He also uncovers the subtle and lessexposed ways men suffer from the addiction of the negative patriarchy, passeddown from generation to generation. He explains how this addiction has manifestitself through destructive relationships, abuse of power, deterioratingeducational pursuit, political backlash and the tearing away at the very fabricof society. Myers pulls no punches as he "outs" men's secret truths, sets anagenda for men's recovery from the destructive patterns of the past, andprepares young men for the new gender realities confronting them in the future.If you care about the healthy fathering of future generations of boys andgirls, you'll read The Future of on Trial."Once again, Jack Myers has his fingers on the pulse of the very latest. Myers has clearly done his homework, and the result is this superb book." ― Ken Burns, documentary filmmaker of The Roosevelts and The Civil War

After being told all their lives to "be a man" and "man up," men are now rejecting the macho stereotype and instead developing empathy, getting in touch with their emotions, and becoming more sensitive in their relationships. Women are gaining ground in business, culture, education, relationships, and politics as traditional male and female roles disappear.

The Future of Masculinity in the Twenty-First Century prepares men and women for this shift in gender norms. As the definition of a "real man" evolves, understanding the future of men in business, politics, sports, education, relationships, and parenting will be essential for men to maintain psychological well-being, strengthen their self-esteem and sexual self-confidence, and rewire their emotional lives. The Future of Men provides tools to help men, and especially younger men, recognize and embrace new behaviors that are required for health and happiness at work, at home, and in their relationships.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Parenting, Sociology

344 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 2016

About the author

Jack Myers, founder of MediaVillage.com and author of The Future of Men: Masculinity in the Twenty-First Century, Hooked Up: A New Generation's Take on Sex, Politics, and Saving the World, and several other books, is a recognized cultural visionary, award-winning documentary film producer, and advisor to hundreds of leading corporations on media and technology trends. His prescient insights and counsel make him one of the foremost global experts on the impact of technological advances on culture, society, business, advertising, marketing, and human connections. He has been honored with a George Foster Peabody Award and Academy and Emmy Award nominations for Best Documentary Feature. For more information, please visit MediaVillage and follow Jack on Twitter @MyersBizNet. For weekly news on gender equality, gender politics, and the shift in gender norms in business and culture, visit the Future of Men channel.

Reviews

[Lorilin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of The Future of Men is that women are gaining power in business, politics, LIFE, so men need to adjust accordingly. Myers argues that women are better educated, more collaborative, and more socially intelligent than men; generally speaking, their skill sets are better suited for post-industrial society, and so they are moving on up in the ranks. He argues that men must change their ways, maybe even become more like women, so that they can thrive in a world where women dominate. And he suggests men do several things to adapt to this new paradigm. They can learn to multitask, get organized, admit mistakes and tell the truth, learn to ask for help, pay attention to details, show concern for other people, use more words to communicate, and think about the feelings of others.

I suppose I agree with Myers, in theory. Yes, I can see that women are educating themselves and working their way up in their careers. More women are in positions of power. Women may still not make as much money as men, but they have a presence in the work force like never before. And that changes things.

Unfortunately, though, Myers makes some pretty crazy arguments about who men currently are. In his opinion, "most men today, no matter how enlightened they may believe they are, continue to exhibit and foster the same behavior as men have throughout the ages." What types of behaviors are those, you ask? Oh, well, you know, just the usual, says Myers. Most men today enjoy sexist jokes, and they flirt with young, attractive women. They don't listen or respond to their female bosses. They cheat...like, all the time. Oh, and they have a destructive and "EMBEDDED instinct to lie, contradict, and obfuscate the truth." (Emphasis mine.) How can he possibly make a claim like that? ALL men are liars and cheaters? It's ludicrous. It's reductionistic and insulting, honestly, to the men who have actually made the effort to be caring, empathetic, and family-centered.

Ironically, I think my favorite part of this book was the part NOT written by Myers. At the very end, there is a section called "Stories from a Woman's Heart." It's basically a small collection of essays written by various women sharing their perspectives on "the evolving man." This section is short, but heartfelt. (Yowza, Mary M., you put it all out there, girl. Your essay is powerful.) I especially appreciate Chapter 30, written by Carol, because that chapter FINALLY mentions a topic that I wish had been addressed in the rest of the book: supporting men's families in the workplace. I firmly believe that nothing is going to change if men aren't allowed to, say, take paid paternity leave or take paid time off to care for a sick family member. Shoot, women are barely granted that "luxury." I see family support in the workplace as THE major hurdle to jump if we really want healthy men and healthy families.

At any rate, this book was a pretty major disappointment. I think Myers is on to something: men's place in American society IS changing. But, unfortunately, his explanation as to why and how really misses the mark.

ARC received through Amazon Vine. See more of my reviews at www.BugBugBooks.com.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book cleverly and humorously explains what many sociologists have realized for a while. Men are in a permanent decline. Economically and socially. They are in effect the inferior sex.

When women and men compete on a level playing field. Women almost always do better. All the evidence is there in this book and others such as The End of Men: And the Rise of Women

But this book goes beyond that conclusion and bravely puts forward the solution for men (although whiny privileged men will probably cry to hear this).

The future of men is at home. As househusbands, raising children, and as caregivers. If men do go into the business sector it will more likely be as PA's not as CEO's.

The task now, and it's explored in the book, is to begin conditioning society to prepare for this reversal and teach boys to accept a more humble future compared to their sisters, whose opportunities will be limitless. Men need to understand that playing a supportive role to a bread winner career woman is a more natural role for a man. Again, the book explores this somewhat.

I've given this book five stars and it doesn't just irrefutably prove that in the future men will be inferior to women, it also offers practical advice to men to essentially learn humility and their place in a female-led society. Props to Jack Myers for being so brave in exposing the harsh realities that men will have to face (and women can enjoy).

The future is female x

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, meh.

This book was first published in 2016. It feels like if it was written back in the early 1990s!

Don't get me wrong: the premises of the author are correct. There is, on the one hand, a growing and new generation of men which has nothing to do with its forefathers, rejecting the traditional view of masculinity (or, at least, its most toxic, obnoxious features) to, instead, redefine manhood away from stifling, suffocating, and self-destructive gender expectations. There is, also, on the other hand, a deep and serious need to redefine masculinity anyway, especially since such traditional features (or, at least, when taken to their extreme that is, to the point of 'toxicity') have become obsolete and counter-productive, from the workplace to parenting. So, what's wrong?

What's wrong is that Jack Myers believes in fundamental neurobiological differences between men and women. He believes, for instance, that hormones affect our behaviours, and therefore our capabilities, abilities, and overall values and interests. But... It's bollocks! Physiology is not psychology, and it has been a long time coming for this bogus 'pink brain vs blue brain' view to be debunked! Indeed, there is no such thing as a male brain or a female brain -there are human brains, with more variations within female and male populations respectively that between both. For example, cognitive features have been shown, time and again, to be a spectrum; Myers ought to get on with the program (there: Gender Mosaic: Beyond the Myth of the Male and Female Brain).

Sadly, in here, such clinging to bogus biological determinism constitutes a serious problem. It's not only that it leads the author to assume that women are somehow morally superior (the old cliches: they are 'hardwired' to be emotional, nurturing, hence more capable of empathy and care... -nope!) as opposed to men (them no less supposedly 'hardwired' to be aggressive, and sexually and ego driven -*sigh*). It's also, and above all, because it's precisely these bogus gender stereotypes, relying on a no less bogus 'science', that has been holding back genders when it comes to empowerment.

Women, of course, managed to break them up and have been empowered, from education to the workplace. Men, on the other hand, still have them thrown at their faces, and so remain disempowered in many respects, especially in fields where they have made next to zero progress in terms of rights (parenting is a case in point!).

So, what? Well, yes, times have changed, and there is a new generation of men coming, which has fully embraced that feminism supporting equality in rights and responsibilities. Yes, too, such generation of men is still being unacknowledged, and marginalised in many respects (fathers' rights, again, are typical: while men battle to be more involved at home and with their kids, work policies and family laws remain trapped in the 1950s... -another *sigh*). But one will never change such poor state of affair by relying on and peddling the gender prejudices and cliches which have been keeping them there in the first place! This book, then, reflects a good diagnosis, but a very poor treatment on offer.

[May Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the chapters on men. I had mixed feelings about the chapters dealing with women.

My initial review didn't save properly, so doing this a bit from memory. I liked a lot that someone has taken the effort to write about this. I do think he's right that this is confusing times. I think my removal of a star is just that there are so many things that he could have expanded on staying with men and not tried to talk as much about women.

The way in which he dissects and goes through the various popular shows and their depictions of women over the years is pretty good. The generational work is also great. I also think that some of what he does when considering the idea of this transition period and the awkwardness of it all is pretty good.

He also talks about some of the parenting practices, both as relates to gender roles at current as well as what it means to be a parent these days, the considerations, etc.

When he goes into the women's section, he brings up many excellent points about what it means to be a woman in modern times. I think my issue is that as a guy, he can only go so far in being able to assert an opinion. You can see he's sensitive to this whole thing and in fact, so much is unfolding. Still, I think there was a way for him to write this book without even going to women.

I give him credit though. I think it's a hard topic given how judgmental and sensitive the world is right now.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out as 5 stars and steadily deteriorated as I read along.
First impressions upon reading the synopsis was that it was a book for men, written by a man, explaining how masculinity is going to be defined in the near future, with women making unprecedented gains in equality and traditional ideas of masculinity being rejected. Sounds interesting, right?

Second impression was the title page, where he states that humanity is shifting from male to female dominance. So now I'm thinking this is going to be a paranoid Meninist manifesto, speaking to how women are taking over the world and how men need to fight lest they become extinct.

Then, I started the book. And it was neither of the above. Initially I was surprised but impressed by how the author cast women in such a positive light (especially after the flavor of that title page). He discussed how women are shattering the glass ceiling in the workplace and politics, how women are dominating in the academic world, and how women are experiencing sexual freedom and satisfaction unlike ever before. He also addresses less positive issues, such as the current wage gap and other gender-based issues that need to be changed. The feminist in me was rejoicing.

But then that roller coaster started it's downhill descent into absolute madness. An entire section was devoted to the idea that genetically, men are becoming extinct. Male DNA is destroying itself and female DNA was getting stronger by the minute. And no, this was not a metaphor.

He continued on through the chapters, putting women on a pedestal and ripping men to shreds. Again, initially, I found this entertaining. What woman wouldn't get a few laughs out of an entire chapter devoted to how men lie? It read like a caricature, except Myers was completely serious about it all. That's when I started to really examine the foundations of his arguments. Each and every male trait that he used to illustrate why men as a species are circling the drain was based in stereotypes. And, yes, stereotypes exist for a reason, but I feel that his selection of the worst attributes was unfair and even purposefully destructive. I realized that if I was reading a book that treated women this way, I would be livid. Also, I don't feel like men need to be torn down in order to make women look better. First of all, it is childish; second, women have enough strength and success to hold their own without having to sabotage their "competition."

I chose to give it three stars, as some of the book was not without its merits. But it would have been a much more enjoyable read, and the arguments would have been much stronger if it hadn't been for the needless annihilation of all things male. I'm not sure I would recommend this book widely. I feel that in the hands of a critical reader, it could be interesting. But in the hands of a reader who takes everything at face value, or an unreasonable feminist looking for any ammunition to use against men, it could be very damaging.

[Emma Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think that I am the target audience for The Future of Men and I was very reluctant to read it, but I won the book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. So I read it, and I was surprised. From the blurb, I expected the book to be about how men can still be men despite feminazis taking over the world. I probably project all of this because the phrase "female dominance" makes me cringe.
In actuality, the author is offering explanations and advice towards men in a more egalitarian world. He says that men will no longer be the dominant gender, but that does not mean they will be subservient. Instead, the book focuses on the qualities and characteristics that men can develop and the lessons they can learn from the modern world. The book offers a different perception of feminism. It does affect men, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. In today's society men have both the obligation and opportunity to find a new balance between work and personal lives, and to redefine masculinity. Men should not be boxed into a stereotype of masculinity any more than women should for femininity.

[Gregory Belaieff · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has not held up well.

[Unna · Rating 3 out of 5]

TBR

[Ian Yarington · Rating 1 out of 5]

wow... so disappointed with this waste of an opportunity. I read another review that said "just another book that propagates the 'girls rule, boys drool' mentality," and I couldn't agree more. I expected it to have more realistic takes on masculinity not a blatant attempt at chopping it down. I understand the need to redefine masculinity but this book isn't even in the ball park.

[Mr. Grr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A social critique on how our society is changing from male dominance to a more gender neutral society. I was concerned this book would be a cry for help from an archaic standpoint but in reality it was a rather objective look on the current situation on genders and the roles given in science, industry, politics, and the home. Myers provides a staggering amount of references to make a case that men have to adapt to a future in which we are more involved at home and provide a 50/50 partnership with the female gender. The book was thought provoking and further asserted my own ideologies of gender equality and feminism. Must read for all men and women.

[Mediaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This frustrating book completely misses the theme. It's not really about men but about how women and gay men have overtaken culture and how traditional men must subjugate themselves in order to survive. At least half if not more of the book is about women, not men. Some "chapters" are only a couple pages and sound like the author just wrote down whatever was on the top of his head instead of truly looking in depth at any research.

Who is this guy anyway? He claims that he is a "visionary" who predicted other "leadership trends" ahead of their time (he congratulates himself a lot!) and now he makes claims to envision the future of men. But what he has written here is just junk. He claims the ideas in the book are "almost entirely factual." No, they're not. It's almost all opinion or distorted facts used to his extremely liberal end. He doesn't seem to be on the side of men at all.

Simplistic...idiotic...just plain "ick." This is not even worth refuting. Zero stars--don't waste your time.

[Jeff]

This book is quite INFORMATIVE and revealed What Kind of Changes are in store for the men in the 'Future Workforce' and IT'S NOT 'GOOD'! Since 2008, and the "Mind-Set" of the majority of America's Industries began turning to the "Cheaper Goods made everywhere BUT HERE in the U.S.A. especially products 'Made-in-China', a large percentage of 'Males' won't be needed, anymore here-at-home, in the manufacturing fields, shipping/receiving, production, etc.
And soon, our country will be shifting away from being "Male Dominated" to being "Female Dominated", in the terms of the WORKFORCE "Having Jobs", women will soon outnumber men.
And it's really sad for the men, myself included, because this has happened because of ALL THOSE GREEDY 'STOCKHOLDERS' who 'demand' all those companies SHOW a PROFIT, EACH QUARTER, forcing those same companies to buy 'cheaper goods' from other countries, which only makes things 'worse' for our own workers.

[J.F. Cicci · Rating 1 out of 5]

I pre-ordered a copy through Inkshares. I hate giving poor reviews but I was very disappointed. I thought it was very bias overall. I question the authenticity any book that uses statistics from HuffPo and CNN. I felt it was just another book that propagates the 'girls rule, boys drool' mentality. Sadly, I've worked in 4 different career fields over the past 17 years and I've always found that the majority of women in the workplace to be malicious, lazy, caddy drama queens. If this is the future of women in the workplace then I fear for our society.

[Noelle Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was really good. I found it to be engaging and well written. To me, this book is well worth the read as it explains the continued evolution of our society from male to female dominated and that it's a good thing.


*won as a GoodReads giveaway*