Men's studies

Men's studies, sometimes called masculinity studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning men, masculinity, gender, and politics. As a relatively new field of study, men's studies was formed largely in response to, and as a critique of, an emerging men's rights movement — itself a response to advantages brought to women by feminist political action — and as such, has been taught in academic settings only since the 1970s. In many universities, men's studies is a correlation to women's studies or part of a larger gender studies program, and as such its faculty tends to be sympathetic to or engaged in feminist politics.

In contrast to the discipline of Masculine Psychology, Men's studies programs and courses often include contemporary discussions of men's rights, masculism, feminist theory, queer theory, matriarchy, patriarchy, and more generally, the social, historical, and cultural constructions of men and virility. They often discuss the issues surrounding male privilege, seen as evolving into more subtle forms rather than disappearing in the modern era.

The American Men's Studies Association (AMSA) traces the roots of an organized field of men's studies to the early 1980s and the work of scholars involved in an anti-sexist organization called the Men's Studies Task Group (MSTG) of the National Organization for Changing Men (NOCM) which included Martin Acker, Shepherd Bliss, Harry Brod, Sam Femiano, Martin Fiebert, and Michael Messner. However, men's studies classes also pre-date NOCM, and a small number were taught in various colleges across the United States throughout the 1970s.

When NOCM changed its name to The National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS),^[1] the MSTG became the Men's Studies Association (MSA). The MSA was an explicitly pro-feminist group, and those who felt this was too constraining split away several years later to form the American Men's Studies Association (AMSA).

In 2010, the Foundation for Male Studies was formed in New York,^[2] focusing on understanding and solving the problems of men and boys. Feminism and pro-feminist theory is peripheral to their focus area. Most of the research sponsored by the foundation has focused on areas where men and boys face discrimination in medicine, law, and the protection afforded by government programs. The foundation also investigates social and institutional misandry.

See also

• Gender studies
• Masculism
• Men and feminism
• Men's liberation
• Men's movement
• Men's rights
• Men's spaces
• Misandry
• Non-westernized concepts of male sexuality
• Women's studies
• Lad culture

Authors

• Harry Brod
• R. W. Connell
• Warren Farrell
• Michael Flood
• Joseph Gelfer
• Michael Kaufman
• Michael Kimmel
• Michael Messner
• Victor Seidler
• Christina Hoff Sommers
• Norah Vincent
• Máirtín Mac an Ghaill

References

1. ^ http://www.nomas.org/
2. ^ http://www.malestudies.org/

Further reading

Bibliographies

• Flood, Michael. The Men's Bibliography

Academic Journals

• General
  • The Journal of Men's Studies (1992-)
  • Men and Masculinities (formerly Masculinities, and before that Men’s Studies Review) (Sage)
  • Psychology of Men & Masculinity (2000-)

• On particular areas
  • Fathering: A Journal of Theory and Research about Men as Parents
  • International Journal of Men's Health (2002-)
  • Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality (January 2007-)
  • Journal of African American Males in Education (2010-)
  • Journal of Men’s Health and Gender
  • Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studies (2007-)
  • Culture, Society and Masculinities (2009-)
  • Journal of Black Masculinity

Books

• Adams, Rachel, and David Savran. (eds). (2002). The Masculinity Studies Reader. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.
• Berger, Maurice, Brian Wallis, and Simon Watson. (eds). (1995). Constructing Masculinity. New York and London: Routledge.
• Blazina, Chris. (2003). The Cultural Myth of Masculinity. Westport, CT: Praeger
• Blazina, C. (2008). The Secret Lives of Men: What Men Want You to Know About Love, Sex, and Relationships. Deerfield, FL: HCI.
• Blazina, C., & Miller, D. (Eds.). (2010). An International Psychology of Men: Clinical Implications and Case Studies. New York: Routledge.
• Bordo, Susan. (1999). The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and Private. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
• Brod, Harry, and Michael Kaufman. (eds). (1994). Theorizing Masculinities. London: Sage.
• Buchbinder, David. (1994). Masculinities and Identities. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
• Buchbinder, David. (1998). Performance Anxieties: Re-producing Masculinity. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
• Carver, Terrell (2004) Men in Political Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• Clatterbaugh, Kenneth. (1997). Contemporary Perspectives on Masculinity: Men, Women, and Politics in Modern Society. 2nd edition, Colorado & Oxford: Westview Press.
• Connell, R.W. (1987). Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
• Connell, R.W. (1995). Masculinities. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
• Connell, R.W. (2000). The Men and the Boys. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
• Digby, Tom. (ed.). (1998). Men Doing Feminism. New York & London: Routledge.
• Edley, Nigel, and Margaret Wetherell. (1995). Men in Perspective: Practice, Power and Identity. London: Prentice-Hall.
• Edwards, Tim. (1993). Erotics and Politics: Gay Male Sexuality, Masculinity, and Feminism. New York: Routledge.
• Gardiner, Judith Kegan. (ed.). (2002). Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory: New Directions. Columbia University Press.
• Haddad, Tony. (ed.). (1993). Men and Masculinities: A Critical Anthology. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
• Hearn, Jeff, and David H.J. Morgan (eds). (1990). Men, Masculinities and Social Theory. London: Unwin Hyman.
• Haywood, Chris, and Mairtin Mac an Ghaill (2003) Men and Masculinities: Theory, Research and Social Practice. Open University Press.
• Katz, Jackson (2006) The Macho Paradox: Why some men hurt women and how all men can help. Sourcebooks.
• Kimmel, Michael S., Jeff Hearn and R. W. Connell (eds.) (2005) Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
• Kimmel, Michael S. (ed.). (1995). The Politics of Manhood: Profeminist Men Respond to the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement (and the Mythopoetic Leaders Answer). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
• Kimmel, Michael S. (2000). The Gendered Society. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Kimmel, Michael, and Amy Aronson (eds) (2003) Men and Masculinities: A social, cultural, and historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio Press.
• Kimmel, Michael S., and Michael Messner. (eds). (1998). Men’s Lives. New York/Toronto: Macmillan/Maxwell (4th edition).
• Kupers, Terry A. (1993). Revisioning Men’s Lives: Gender, Intimacy, and Power. New York & London: Guilford Press.
• Mac an Ghaill, Mairtin (ed.). (1996). Understanding Masculinities: Social Relations and Cultural Arenas. Buckingham & Philadelphia: Open University Press.
• May, Larry. (1998). Masculinity and Morality. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press.
• May, Larry, and Robert Strikwerda. (eds). (1992). Rethinking Masculinity: Philosophical Explorations in Light of Feminism. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Messner, Michael A. (1997). Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements. University of Southern California: Sage.
• Miedzian, Myriam. (1991). Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking the Link Between Masculinity and Violence. New York: Doubleday.
• Pease, Bob. (1997). Men and Sexual Politics: Towards a Profeminist Practice. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications.
• Pease, Bob. (2000). Recreating Men: Postmodern Masculinity Politics. London: Sage.
• Pease, Bob. (2002). Men and Gender Relations. Melbourne: Tertiary Press.
• Petersen, Alan. (1998). Unmasking the Masculine: ‘Men’ and ‘Identity’ in a Sceptical Age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Pfeil, Fred. (1995). White Guys: Studies in Postmodern Domination and Difference. London & New York: Verso.
• Pringle, Keith. (1995). Men, Masculinities and Social Welfare. London: UCL Press.
• Reeser, Todd (2010). Masculinities in Theory. Malden, MA: Wylie-Blackwell.
• Schacht, Steven P., and Doris W. Ewing (2004) Feminism With Men: Bridging the gender gap. Roman and Littlefield.
• Segal, Lynne. (1990). Slow Motion: Changing Masculinities, Changing Men. London: Virago.
• Seidler, Victor J. (2005) Transforming Masculinities : Men, Cultures, Bodies, Power, Sex and Love. Routledge.
• Simpson, Mark. (1994). Male Impersonators: Men Performing Masculinity. New York: Routledge.
• Snodgrass, Jon. (ed.). (1977). A Book of Readings: For Men Against Sexism. Albion CA: Times Change Press.
• Stoltenberg, John. (1990). Refusing To Be a Man: Essays on Sex and Justice. CA & Suffolk: Fontana/Collins.
• Stoltenberg, John. (1993). The End of Manhood: A Book for Men of Conscience. New York: Dutton. (Also available from Baker & Taylor Replica Books, 1998)
• Synnott, Anthony. (2009). Re-Thinking Men: Heroes Villains and Victims. London: Ashgate.
• Whitehead, Stephen M. (2002). Men and Masculinities: Key Themes and New Directions. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Whitehead, Stephen M., and Frank J. Barrett. (eds). (2001). The Masculinities Reader. Cambridge: Polity Press

External links

• American Men Studies Association
• Men's Studies Press
• Boyhood Studies
• The Men's Bibliography, a comprehensive bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender, and sexualities, listing over 16,700 works.
• Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality
• The ManKind Project of Chicago, supporting men in leading meaningful lives of integrity, accountability, responsibility, and emotional intelligence