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Re-Thinking Men: Heroes, Villains and Victims
Much writing on men in the field of gender studies tends to focus unduly, almost exclusively, on portraying men as villains and women as victims in a moral bi-polar paradigm, Re-Thinking Men reverses the proclivity. With the development of a comparative and revised gender perspective drawing on US, Canadian and UK sources, this book will be of interest to scholars across a range of social sciences.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 17, 2017
If you're considering looking into the canon of critical men's studies or studying masculinities in popular culture in general, this is NOT the book you should begin with. There are some good observations in here, but overall Re-Thinking Men: Heroes, Villains and Victims is problematic from a critical academic standpoint and anyone with a basic familiarity with women's studies or Feminist critical theory will notice the holes in the author's arguments.
The good? Like many researchers, Synnott rightfully observes several things (that masculinity has become almost synonymous with "awfulness" and some academic theories do not leave enough room to understand masculinity as anything else; that men do contribute to society in positive and beneficial ways; and that men disproportionately suffer from a variety of social ills).
HOWEVER, the author has a tendency to pin the blame for men's misfortunes on other scholars (RW Connell and Michel Kimmel), women and Feminism (as opposed to say, irresponsible standards set for men by men). Adding to this, he seems to have walked away with a very limited view of the canon of critical men's studies and Feminism in general. There is also quite a bit of leaping to conclusions not supported by the data presented, as well as reading the data in an arbitrary manner without considering the alternatives.
Consider reading RW Connell's Masculinities or Manhood in America by Michael Kimmel as a starting points for any study or interest in masculinity. If media and popular culture is more your interest for men's studies, try Male Myths and Icons: Masculinity in Popular Culture by Roger Horrocks, Hard Bodies by Susan Jeffords or The Media and the Models of Masculinity by Mark Moss.
The good? Like many researchers, Synnott rightfully observes several things (that masculinity has become almost synonymous with "awfulness" and some academic theories do not leave enough room to understand masculinity as anything else; that men do contribute to society in positive and beneficial ways; and that men disproportionately suffer from a variety of social ills).
HOWEVER, the author has a tendency to pin the blame for men's misfortunes on other scholars (RW Connell and Michel Kimmel), women and Feminism (as opposed to say, irresponsible standards set for men by men). Adding to this, he seems to have walked away with a very limited view of the canon of critical men's studies and Feminism in general. There is also quite a bit of leaping to conclusions not supported by the data presented, as well as reading the data in an arbitrary manner without considering the alternatives.
Consider reading RW Connell's Masculinities or Manhood in America by Michael Kimmel as a starting points for any study or interest in masculinity. If media and popular culture is more your interest for men's studies, try Male Myths and Icons: Masculinity in Popular Culture by Roger Horrocks, Hard Bodies by Susan Jeffords or The Media and the Models of Masculinity by Mark Moss.
April 18, 2015
Written in a sociological manner rendered it almost entirely unreadable. The five models of gender relations were completely silly and uninformed. It had some nice messages about problems with misandry but was overshadowed by the horrendous writing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews