Manhood Acts

Manhood Acts
Author: Michael Schwalbe
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2015-11-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317256344

In Manhood Acts Michael Schwalbe offers a new perspective on the social construction of manhood and its relationship to male domination. Schwalbe argues that study of masculinity has lost touch with its feminist roots and has been seduced by the politically safe notion of 'multiple masculinities'. Manhood Acts delineates the practices males use to construct 'women' and 'men' as unequal categories. Schwalbe reclaims the radical feminist insights that gender is a field of domination, not a field of play, and that manhood is fundamentally about exerting or resisting control. Manhood Acts arrives at the conclusion that abolishing gender as a system of oppression will require more than transgressive self-presentation. It will be necessary to end the exploitive economic relationships that necessitate manhood itself.

Manhood Acts

Manhood Acts
Author: Michael Schwalbe
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2015-11-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317256352

In Manhood Acts Michael Schwalbe offers a new perspective on the social construction of manhood and its relationship to male domination. Schwalbe argues that study of masculinity has lost touch with its feminist roots and has been seduced by the politically safe notion of 'multiple masculinities'. Manhood Acts delineates the practices males use to construct 'women' and 'men' as unequal categories. Schwalbe reclaims the radical feminist insights that gender is a field of domination, not a field of play, and that manhood is fundamentally about exerting or resisting control. Manhood Acts arrives at the conclusion that abolishing gender as a system of oppression will require more than transgressive self-presentation. It will be necessary to end the exploitive economic relationships that necessitate manhood itself.

Violent Manhood

Violent Manhood
Author: J. E. Sumerau
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2020-08-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1538136503

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.

The Dude's Guide to Manhood

The Dude's Guide to Manhood
Author: Darrin Patrick
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2014-01-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1400205484

Discover the path to true masculinity—to an adventurous life of strength, purpose, and clarity. Didn’t we used to understand manhood? Wasn’t there a time once when it was clear and straightforward? Are we lost? Dudes, look around you: The trail we once traveled from boyhood to maturity is now so overgrown, it’s almost impossible to trace. Our vision is blurred, rendering the map that previous generations followed unreadable. Our compass needles are spinning in circles, making navigation impossible. We are stuck in dense, dangerous woods, and our communities—the wives, children, friends, and colleagues we could be influencing—are suffering as a result. It can be tempting to give up and, like so many men today, simply exist, but take heart: Now is not the time for men to abandon our quest. We can discover the path to true masculinity—to an adventurous life of strength, purpose, and clarity. In The Dude’s Guide to Manhood, pastor, author and dude Darrin Patrick charts a course back toward real manliness, mapping out a vision to help men find significance and influence in today’s broken, mixed-message culture. Revealing his own frailties and missteps, Patrick doesn’t preach at you but walks with you on a journey toward healing and wholeness. Filled with timeless wisdom, accessible insights and practical guidance, The Dude’s Guide to Manhood issues an encouraging and doable call to all men, whatever your age or stage. We need not settle for wandering aimlessly through our days, wounded, weak, and passive. Instead, we can get back on the trail, embrace our gifts while facing our imperfections, and trust the God of new beginnings to lead us into all that we are destined to become: forgiven, connected, determined, teachable, content, heroic, and so much more.

Manhood Impossible

Manhood Impossible
Author: Scott Melzer
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2018-08-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0813584914

In Manhood Impossible, Scott Melzer argues that boys’ and men’s bodies and breadwinner status are the two primary sites for their expression of control. Controlling selves and others, and resisting being dominated and controlled is most connected to men’s bodies and work. However, no man can live up to these culturally ascendant ideals of manhood. The strategies men use to manage unmet expectations often prove toxic, not only for men themselves, but also for other men, women, and society. Melzer strategically explores the lives of four groups of adult men struggling with contemporary body and breadwinner ideals. These case studies uncover men’s struggles to achieve and maintain manhood, and redefine what it means to be a man.

Unleashing Manhood in the Cage

Unleashing Manhood in the Cage
Author: Christian A. Vaccaro
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2015-11-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1498523773

Unleashing Manhood in the Cage: Masculinity and Mixed Martial Arts addresses the question “Why do mixed martial arts participants endure grueling workouts and suffer through injury, with little or no pay, just to compete?” The answer is because the participants enjoy a form of idolization from their supporters, each other, and culture more generally, which is linked to masculinity. In fact, MMA organizers, from the very beginning, purposefully created elements of the sport that are linked to dominant narratives about manhood. In this context, men don thin open-fingered gloves, lock themselves in a caged enclosure, and slug it out in a fight with few rules to see who comes out on top. This all occurs while “ring girls” in high-heels and skin-tight shirts and shorts stride around outside the cage holding signs and peddling t-shirts. The sum of these elements is the creation of a type of a publicly accessible and consumable form of masculinity. The sport of mixed martial arts is a rich and intriguing space where the construction of gender can be explored through a sociological and ethnographic lens.

Act Like Men

Act Like Men
Author: James MacDonald
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2014-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802476147

Man up; it’s the best thing you can do for others—and yourself Men are so busy doing so many different things; when not working, their free time is often full of the trivial or sinful. But what society and church so desperately need are men who embrace all that God created them to be, who long to follow God without limits and meet the needs of those around them without hesitation. To get there, we need what Pastor James MacDonald calls “radical surgery”—a deep, probing exploration and reparation of all that it means to be a man. In his definitive, bold voice, MacDonald calls men to be watchful, firm in their faith, strong, and loving. This isn’t a call for bravado and bluster. It’s a call for men to mix tender and tough, to be humble, to follow Jesus. It is a call to be leaders, men of God, husbands who are present and caring and strong. It is straight talk—no posturing or posing or beating around the bush—inviting men to redemption and restoration in their manhood. Read Act Like Men and take bold steps toward being all that God designed you to be.

Man Enough

Man Enough
Author: Nate Pyle
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2015-09-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310343399

Man Enough challenges the idea that there is one way to be a man. The masculinity that pervades our church and culture often demands that men conform to a macho ideal, leaving many men feeling ashamed that they’re not living up to God’s plan for them. Nate uses his own story of not feeling “man enough”, as well as sociological and historical reflections, to help men see that manhood isn’t about what you do, but who you are. It’s not about the size of your paycheck, your athletic ability, or your competitive spirit. You don’t have to fit any masculine stereotype to be a real man. In our culture and churches more thoughtful, quieter, or compassionate personalities, as well as stay-at-home dads, are often looked down upon; and sermons, conferences, and publications center on helping men become “real men”. This pressure to have one’s manhood validated is antithetical to Gospel living and negatively affects how men relate to each other, to women and children, and to God. Man Enough roots men in the Gospel, examines biblical examples of masculinity that challenge the idea of a singular type of man, and ultimately encourages men to conform to the image of Jesus—freeing men up to be who they were created to be: a son of God who uniquely bears His image.

Unmasking the Male Soul

Unmasking the Male Soul
Author: Wilmer G. Villacorta
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 175
Release: 2019-09-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1532652348

Unmasking the Male Soul is about freedom that confronts the innate and enslaving obsession for power and control in destructive ways. At the core of this liberating process, we must acknowledge that we cannot escape the sociocultural matrix in which every human being emerges. In denying their fallen nature, human beings set aside their dependency on God and become self-centered and self-reliant. It is from their self-centered hearts that human beings foster dynamics of coercion, domination, competition, and distorted self-realization at the expense of others. This cycle of shame and guilt is well-disguised behind a mask which enables them to enact these dynamics in subtle ways. At times even in the name of religion, men followed the illusion of their internal insecurities and became dependent on masks of power and control. It is time to break away from the chains of exclusion and devaluation of women in Christian leadership. Masculinities have only perpetrated a narrative of exceptionalism as the apex of humankind, and often they have contrasted to subservient expectations of women in leading others. Each chapter responds to the implicit male silence on the issue in a multidisciplinary way with historical, sociocultural, theological, and scriptural implications. In this book, I will endeavor to challenge the masks of masculinities and dismantle several mental models that foment a gender divide in Christ-like leadership in the twenty-first century.