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Male-bashing could prove 'disastrous,' authors warn
New book on misandry
National Post, Graeme Hamilton, November 14, 2001
MONTREAL - Men feeling down on themselves need look no further than their local greeting-card shop or video-rental store for an explanation, the Montreal authors of a controversial new book argue.
In Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture, McGill University professor Katherine Young and co-author Paul Nathanson warn that male-bashing is so pervasive in movies, television, comic strips and even greeting cards, it could have "disastrous consequences" for society.
Dr. Nathanson, who has been working with Dr. Young on the project for 15 years, said misandry -- the hatred of men -- is unexplored academic terrain.
"I don't even know how to pronounce it," he said during an interview yesterday. "I've never heard the word used." He said the U.S. Library of Congress has three books under the heading of misandry but thousands under misogyny -- the term for hatred of women.
The authors hope their book, published by McGill-Queen's University Press, will make the word a part of everyday vocabulary.
"Our hypothesis is that, like misogyny once upon a time, misandry has become so deeply embedded in our culture that few people -- including men -- even recognize it," they write.
Men who are offended are reluctant to take a stand because of "the taboo on male vulnerability," they write.
The examples of misandry cited cover a broad range. They refer to a greeting card that said, "Men are scum" on the outside and inside, "Excuse me. For a second there, I was feeling generous." They take issue with Blondie, Hagar the Horrible and Beetle Bailey, saying "pathetic men are de rigueur in comic strips."
The brunt of their attack, however, is reserved for television and movies, everything from Home Improvement and Beavis and Butt-Head to Sleeping with the Enemy and Silence of the Lambs. Men are laughed at, denigrated or demonized, receiving treatment that would never be acceptable if directed at women, they say.
Dr.Young, a professor of religious studies at McGill, said her research has attracted some hostility from "ideological feminists" who believe women are superior to men.
"As we wrote it, we realized it's going against the grain, and therefore it's going to be controversial," she said.
She added that being a tenured professor made it easier for her to take on the controversial topic without fear of harm to her career.
Some may be tempted to dismiss the book as another example of academics overly obsessed with popular culture. Its index is peppered with such entries as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gloria Gaynor, Murphy Brown, Sex and the City and The Vagina Monologues. One appendix, titled the Misandric Week on Television, analyzes a week of TV Guide listings for examples of dastardly men.
The book is the first of three volumes about misandry the pair will publish with McGill-Queen's. Dr. Young said the issue needs to be explored because it is exacting a social toll.
Fed a popular-culture diet of men who are either hapless or downright evil, boys and young men are feeling more alienated, she said. "What group wants to live with constant negative stereotyping?"
Even more serious is the gulf such portrayals create between the sexes. "What happens to society when the prevailing world view is dualistic, with one group seen as good and the other as evil?" she asked. In their book, the authors warn such polarization could provoke a backlash.
"If men are told over and over again that they are not only brutal subhumans in general but also hostile to women in particular, they are likely to say, 'So be it ...' What goes around, according to the old saying, comes around," they write.
Copyright 2001 National Post Online
McGill-Queen's University Press
Read the preface and table of contents of Spreading Misandry.
Why boys are in trouble
Boys have been painted as the bad guys in the push to encourage girls to succeed, leaving many young men feeling confused and alienated, wondering what they did wrong
The Associated Press
January 5, 1999
According to psychologist and author William Pollack, 'sports are the one arena in which many of society's traditional strictures about masculinity are often loosened, allowing boys to experience parts of themselves they rarely experience elsewhere.'
When Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack administered a test to a group of 150 teenaged boys a few years ago, the results were shocking.
The Boy Crisis Book
The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It
Authors- Waren Farrell PhD and John Gray PhD
What is the boy crisis?
It's a crisis of education. Worldwide, boys are 50 percent less likely than girls to meet basic proficiency in reading, math, and science.
It's a crisis of mental health. ADHD is on the rise. And as boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women.
It's a crisis of fathering. Boys are growing up with less-involved fathers and are more likely to drop out of school, drink, do drugs, become delinquent, and end up in prison.
It's a crisis of purpose. Boys' old sense of purpose-being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner-are fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a "purpose void," feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification.
So, what is The Boy Crisis? A comprehensive blueprint for what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our sons become happier, healthier men, and fathers and leaders worthy of our respect. Read More ..
Health Canada Publication
The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and Teens
"... the existence of a double standard in the care and treatment of male victims, and the invisibility and normalization of violence and abuse toward boys and young men in our society.
Despite the fact that over 300 books and articles on male victims have been published in the last 25 to 30 years, boys and teen males remain on the periphery of the discourse on child abuse.
Few workshops about males can be found at most child abuse conferences and there are no specialized training programs for clinicians. Male-centred assessment is all but non-existent and treatment programs are rare. If we are talking about adult males, the problem is even greater. A sad example of this was witnessed recently in Toronto. After a broadcast of The Boys of St. Vincent, a film about the abuse of boys in a church-run orphanage, the Kids' Help Phone received over 1,000 calls from distraught adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. It is tragic in a way no words can capture that these men had no place to turn to other than a children's crisis line."
American Psychological Association
Dating Violence Statistics in the United States
Nearly one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys say they have been raped or experienced some other form of abusive violence on a date, according to a study released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
The mean T-shirt: From the Stupid Factory
Todd Goldman says his popular boy-bashing T-shirts are simply funny.
So why are retailers having second thoughts? Read More ..
Why boys are in trouble
Boys have been painted as the bad guys in the push to encourage girls to succeed, leaving many young men feeling confused and alienated, wondering what they did wrong
The Associated Press
According to psychologist and author William Pollack, 'sports are the one arena in which many of society's traditional strictures about masculinity are often loosened, allowing boys to experience parts of themselves they rarely experience elsewhere.'
When Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack administered a test to a group of 150 teenaged boys a few years ago, the results were shocking.