Violent Manhood

by J.E. Sumerau

This book touches on all of the hot-topic issues of masculinity and violence, including gun violence, sexual assault and the #MeToo movement, violence against women, LGBTQ people, and people of color. Its unique approach will add to many conversations that should, as Sumerau explains, be focused on masculinity and are far too often focused on something else. Taking the approach of talking with young college men who are privileged provides a unique look at how manhood and masculinity may not be progressing like many people hope and provides insights from all angles to critically examine the ways men construct and explain relationships between violence, manhood, and inequality in society.

Genres: Academic

134 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 21, 2020

About the author

JE Sumerau is a novelist, scholar, and teacher writing about culture, relationships, & the southeastern U.S. in a wide variety of ways -> Follow on Instagram & Reels @jesumerau and Facebook @jesumerau & Twitter @jsumerau for updates.

Reviews

[Noah Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my Sociology of Gender class and thoroughly enjoyed it. I find it interesting how Sumerau sets up the interviews with the men and how scarily like-minded a lot of them were. I would be interested to see another book with the same style of interviews with a more diverse range of identities and see how Sumerau's findings stand up to an intersectional setting.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doing a presentation on this for my gender studies capstone course and looking forward to it! I can see someone claiming that calling manhood violent is way over the top, but Sumerau lays their argument out clearly and pretty much irrefutably.

[Kaelen Twomey · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this for a sociology class (Gender, Crime, and Violence) and i loved it! the interviews and analysis in this book provide a wonderful illustration of the deep rooted correlation between manhood and violence in contemporary U.S society.

[Trauermaerchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting look into contemporary understandings of manhood. It struggles a little with finding focus and bringing its' individual aspects together but overall, this brought up some great points and did what it tried to do.

4.5/5⭐

[Lain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A striking analysis of the ways violence is woven into contemporary ideals of manhood. Would recommend to anyone! Would be especially useful as a teaching resource in gender classes. Would also be a great book club read for those interested in engaging and deep discussion about the harms of current social norms (and what can be done to change them).