NEW MALE STUDIES to be launched in January 2012
As feminism continues its decline into inevitable oblivion it is about to join the other two “isms” of the Twentieth Century which are now regarded as costly and damaging failures in social engineering. Any of the few ageing “thinkers” who now voice any support for this trio of travesties are now regarded as collector’s items by the rest of society.
As is to be expected, the social pendulum is now swinging back the other way and, over the past decade, men are now getting better treatment due in part to the rise of a number of men’s movements bringing pressure to bear on governments and politicians who are traditionally the last members of any society to “get it”.
The good news is that in January 2012 there is to be launched a new journal, “New Male Studies”, which will consider the plight of men and point out to society what must be urgently done about it. By way of introduction I print below some brief items and quotes from the website:
Misandry and Emptiness
Masculine identity in a toxic cultural environment.
Paul Nathanson and Katherine K.Young
Abstract
Masculine identity has become increasingly problematic due to technological and cultural changes over the past ten thousand years, beginning with the horticultural and agricultural revolutions but gaining momentum with the industrial, military and reproductive revolutions. Egalitarian feminists have unwittingly exacerbated the problem by equating sexual equality with sexual sameness, leaving men unable to make even one contribution to society, as men, which is distinctive, necessary and can therefore be publicly valued–that is, unable to establish a healthy collective identity specifically as men. The result of this emptiness is a growing tendency to give up either by dropping out of school and or by committing suicide. Ideological feminists have thrown down the gauntlet, on the other hand, by ascribing to men a highly negative collective identity. The result of this misandry is an increasing number of men who believe that even a negative collective identity is better than no collective identity at all. No solution will be possible without challenging pervasive assumptions about both boys andmen.
Towards an Integrated Perspective on Gender, Masculinity, and Manhood
John A. Ashfield
Abstract
For decades our understanding of gender, masculinity, and manhood has arguably been bedevilled by uninformative pseudo-academic gender ideology. Detached from biological reality, and crediting culture with almost autonomous causation, this ideology of gender feminist social constructionism has exhibited a dogged self-preserving reflex of disconfirmation, whenever faced with knowledge challenging its dogmatic assertions. Its unashamed devaluation of thought, through resort to propagandist mantras of global male aspersion and political correctness, underscores not only its fundamentalist nature—disqualifying it from any serious consideration as a basis for understanding gender and social relations, but also the urgent need for a perspective, unfettered by ideology, that reflects current interdisciplinary knowledge, and is actually useful.
The Bold, Independent Woman Of Today and the “Good” Men and Boys in Her Life: A Sampling of Mainstream Media Representations
Peter Allemano
Abstract
For decades, there has been an abundance of negative portrayals of men and boys in mainstream media, but here and there, especially in recent years, ostensibly “positive” portrayals have also been presented of exemplary men and good little boys who devote themselves to fulfilling females’ wishes and expectations. Although we cannot help but notice the “good” male’s existence (in movies, for example), we nevertheless pay little attention to him as an individual. Such representations of the “good” male do merit our attention, because upon examination, his psychological mindset is peculiar and ought to perplex us. We need to ask some hard questions about this representation. How does the “good” male image influence our attitudes toward the male sex in general? What does it teach boys about their futures, in adulthood? One unusual recent mainstream movie challenges the prevailing “good” male image and strongly suggests that there exists a far better and more realistic way to affirm the male sex’s best qualities.
Moral Panic: Male Studies and the Spectre of Denial
Robert A. Kenedy
Abstract
The absence of male studies programs in Canada is both a result of and clear evidence that political correctness along with moral panic and gender feminism or third wave feminism have a grip on academe, creating an adversarial schism. Over the last three decades, this has marginalized a more inclusive, multi‐perspective “male studies” discipline to the periphery of academe. It has resulted in mainly feminist and pro‐feminist men’s studies programs and research that focus on men as primarily being violent victimizers, as well as secondary and disengaged parents. Male studies programs and a journal are necessary to reveal the “lived male experience.”
These are the first four studies in the journal. Their length varies from about four pages to twenty or so. They can easily be downloaded from the website as pdfs and you also have the option of downloading the whole journal as a 120 page pdf. To go to the site just click here: http://newmalestudies.com/OJS/index.php/nms/about
There are some brief notes for readers, writers and librarians which I append below. In the next post I shall deal with the other four studies which are available.
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