The Politics of Manhood : Profeminist Men Respond to the Mythopoetic Men's Movement (And the Mythopoetic Leaders Answer)

These essays by profeminist men critique the surface ideals and underlying messages promoted by the men's movement. Is it a backlash against feminism or does it respond to men's real needs independent of feminism? What does the movement say about the appropriate models of masculinity? While the movement may be more than a bunch of white middle-aged men in war-paint, chanting and grunting in the forest, the profeminist men writing here express their explicit concern with both the surface ideals and the underlying messages promoted by the movement. Essays by several of the leaders of the mythopoetic men's movement, including Robert Bly, respond to the profeminist criticisms, opening a provocative dialogue among men about the politics of the contemporary men's movement, the "crisis" of masculinity, and where to go from here. Spokesperson for the National Organization for Men Against Sexism, Michael S. Kimmel is Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and editor of "Masculinities", a scholarly journal. His books include "Men's Lives", "Men Confront Pornography", and "Manhood in America: A History." Introduction / Michael S. Kimmel -- Weekend Warriors : The New Men's Movement / Michael S. Kimmel And Michael Kaufman -- Mytopoetic Foundations And New Age Patriarchy / Ken Clatterbaugh -- Gazing Into Men's Middle's : Fire In The Belly And The Men's Movement / Don Sabo -- Men At Bay : The 'men's Movement' And Its Newest Best-sellers / Bob Connell -- The Politics Of The Mythopoetic Men's Movement / Harry Brod -- Changing Men And Feminist Politics In The United States / Michael A. Messner -- Born To Run : Nineteenth-century Fantasies Of Masculine Retreat And Re-creation (or The Historical Rust On Iron John) / Michael S. Kimmel -- Deep Masculinity As Social Contract : Foucault, Bly, And Masculinity / Timothy Beneke -- A Woman For Every Wild Man : Robert Bly And His Reaffirmation Of Masculinity / David S. Gutterman -- Renewal As Retreat : The Battle For Men's Souls / Timothy Nonn -- Mythopoetic Men's Work As A Search For Commuitas / Michael Schwalbe -- Homophobia In Robert Bly's Iron John / Grodon Murray -- The Shadow Of Iron John / Paul Wolf-light -- Soft Males And Mama's Boys : A Critique Of Bly / Terry A. Kupers -- Psyche, Society, And The Men's Movement / Chris Bullock -- Cultural Daddy-ism And Male Hysteria / David M. Weed -- Iron Clint : Queer Weddings In Robert Bly's Iron John And Clint Eastwood's Unforgivern / Mark Simpson -- (cont.) Thoughts On Reading This Books / Robert Bly -- The Post-feminist Men's Movement / Aaron Kipnis -- Healing, Community And Justice In The Men's Movement : Toward A Socially Responsible Model Of Masculinity / Onaje Benjamin -- Mythopoetic Men's Movements / Shepard Bliss -- We've Come A Long Way Too, Baby. And We've Still Got A Ways To Go. So Give Us A Break! / Marvin Allen -- Twenty-five Years In The Men's Movement / Jed Diamond -- Why Mythopoetic Men Don't Flock To Nomas / Michael Schwalbe -- In Defense Of The Men's Movements / Don Shewey -- Betwixt And Between In The Men's Movement / Mike Dash -- Afterword / Michael S. Kimmel. Edited By Michael S. Kimmel. Includes Bibliographical References. The concept and reality of revolution continue to pose some of the most challenging and important questions in the world today. What causes revolution? Why do some people participate in revolutionary events while others do not? What is the role of religion and ideology in causing and sustaining revolution? Why do some revolutions succeed and some fail? These questions have preoccupied philosophers and social scientists for centuries. In Revolution, Michael S. Kimmel examines why the study of revolution has attained such importance and he provides a systematic historical analysis of key ideas and theories. The book surveys the classical perspectives on revolution offered by nineteenth- and early twentieth-century theorists, such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Tocqueville, and Freud. Kimmel argues that their perspectives on revolution were affected by the reality of living through the revolutions of 1848 and 1917, a reality that raised crucial issues of class, state, bureaucracy, and motivation. The author then turns to the interpretations of revolution offered by social scientists in the post-World War II period, especially modernization theory and social psychological theories. Here, he contends that the relative quiescence of the 1950s cast revolutions in a different light, which was poorly suited to explain the revolutionary upheavals that have marked the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. With reference to the work of Barrington Moore, Theda Skocpol, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Charles Tilly, among others, Kimmel develops the criteria for a structural theory of revolution. This lucid, accessible account includes contemporary analyses of the Nicaraguan, Iranian, and Angolan revolutions. A debate on the personal and political dimensions of masculinity, this work critiques the surface ideals and underlying messages promoted by the men's movement.