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This is my 'go to' list now. I have read so few of them. There seems to a wide variety on this list. Maybe more about being male, a man, and gay in patriarchy is needed.

Thanks for commenting! Please feel free to vote. It would be great to have as many books on the list as possible.

I am reading bell hooks' The Will To Change and have heard men say such positive things about it. I have proposed reading it at the same time with a person who is not inclined to her considerations and thought processes. Let's see if he takes me up on the challenge.

It is sad how many of these books have as a framework, men and masculinity as a problem or limitation or transgression, something that needs to be controlled and fixed. We live in a time where men are loathed and presumed to be inadequate, dangerous and incompetent all at the same time. What is a boy's sense of himself going to be growing up in this sort of culture?

When statistics show that men are the major perpetrators of violence and even higher statistic of violence on women not to mention the rising awareness of paedophiles loose in our 'civil' communities, I have to ask what you think of this condition of current society? White supremacists, pay gap between genders, men die earlier than the women who have survived childbirth housework on top of jobs, war ... are you aware of this male sufferance? Are you aware of the sexual violence men perpetrate on other men? I am sorry you feel that men are loathed, when actually it is the patriarchal male who is FEARED! Patriarchy is what needs to be dismantled. The toxic male that patriarchy creates through Abuse and its Trauma needs to find a domain to heal within. Look at Terry Real's work, if a woman writings are too challenging. Please.

Ladyfilosopher wrote: "When statistics show that men are the major perpetrators of violence and even higher statistic of violence on women not to mention the rising awareness of paedophiles loose in our 'civil' communiti..."

I sorely wish we could "like" comments on Goodreads.

Thank you for your support.

I was excited by this list at first, as I think the world needs more positive examples of masculinity in a time when men are experiencing a mental health crisis. But I pretty quickly noticed that this isn't a list about men and masculinity, it's a list about feminism. It should probably be retitled "Feminist Perspectives on Masculinity", for clarity.

Jo, I created this list with the intention of being inclusive of everything related to men and masculinity, with the exception of titles promoting misogyny, such as "Red Pill" propaganda. If you have other titles about men and masculinity you would like to add, please add them. I would like to have this list as comprehensive as possible. Any non-fiction works that have to do with the social, cultural, emotional, or biological experience of being male are welcome.

Rainbowheart wrote: "Jo, I created this list with the intention of being inclusive of everything related to men and masculinity, with the exception of titles promoting misogyny, such as "Red Pill" propaganda. If you ha..."

a fine balanced response to Jo's comment. I look forward to the books he proposes.

Osiris (why have you adopted a female deity as your pseudoymn?) I , too, would love to hear of more books about featuring a positive take on masculinity. I think you have hit the nail on the head: is there vocabulary or even awareness of what a positive male could look like? From my point of view (a woman who has seen the positive deep inside some men and seen it frozen and covered up as soon as intimacy became part of the dynamic) vocabulary is missing and with that lack, so is the imagination of a cooperative, partnership seeking male who is not 'ACCEPTING" society's lame definition of what a man is. Would you consider writing some short stories about that male?

i'm sorry, i got stuck on that first sentence. and then the others.
here is a good quote that points to a lot of what i see as the problem with our society. men/ women/ the rest... but men in this case.

“To speak frankly, the family bond in the civilized regime causes fathers to desire the death of their children and children to desire the death of their fathers.”
Charles Fourier