From Panthers to Promise Keepers: Rethinking the Men's Movement (The New Social Formations)

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." Contents 6 Introduction: Close Encounters 8 1 Men, Masculinity, and Mourning on the Mall: National Manhood and Male Romance 34 2 Revolutionary Men: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Reconfiguration of Black Masculine Ideals 60 3 A Circle of Loving Companions: Radically Gay 86 4 Reenchanting (White) Masculinity: The Profeminist Heritage of “Men’s Liberation” 114 5 Iron and Ironing Johns: Being Born Again in the Mythopoetic Movement 144 6 Fathers of Themselves 164 7 Reinventing the Husband 192 8 Doing the Work of Love: Promise Keepers on Work, Marriage, and Fathering 220 9 Beyond a Focus on the Family: Love Work as Race Reconciliation 248 10 The Politics of Feeling 266 Index 288 About the Author 302 From Panthers to Promise Keepers draws on intimate observations of the men and networks who were involved in what some have called the mens movement and tells us why these networks mattered. Focusing on the decades between and, it argues that while public, structural change is necessary for gender equality, getting men involved in efforts at social justice may well depend on their making changes with respect to feelings and with respect to their unconscious fears and anxieties as well