About the Book

In this book Victor J Seidler, one of the leading contributors to the growing debate about masculinities, turns his attention to the lives of young men and their understandings of themselves as gendered beings. By contextualizing their experiences and subjectivities within a rapidly globalizing world, Seidler pays particular attention to the impact of the global media. How does the mass circulation of images of men's bodies, desires and sexualities affect their self-perception and behaviours, and how are these images framed within particular histories, cultures and traditions?

Questioning universalist theories of 'hegemonic masculinities', the book argues that young men often feel caught between prevailing masculinities and their own struggle for self-definition. It explores both how the idea of men as 'the First Sex' has been established within the West and the ways in which men in other cultures and societies affirm their gendered identities. Seidler pioneers new methodologies that involve listening to the silences surrounding male experience as well as to oral testimonies. This enables innovative analysis of the contradictions young men are faced with in both creating their own gendered identities and establishing more equal relationships within a world of intense inequalities.

Contents

1. Introduction : Young Men and Masculinities
2. Masculinities, Histories, Cultures and Religions
3. Listening, Speaking and Learning
4. Questioning Adam: Men, Power and Love
5. Rethinking Fatherhood
6. Masculinities, Bodies and Emotional Lives
7. Bodies, Desires, Pleasures and Love
8. Authority, Identities, Bodies and Intimacies
9. Bodies, Ethics, Fears and Desires
10. Friends, Risks and Transgressions
11. Risks, Fears, ‘Race‘ and Belongings
12. Risks, Self-Harm, Power and Control
13. Young Men, Bodies, Sexualities and Health
14. Young Men‘s Sexual and Reproductive Health
15. Young Men, Families, Intimacies and Global Cultures

About the Author

Victor Jeleniewski Seidler is Professor of Social Theory in the Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has written widely in the field of gender, particularly in relation to men and masculinities as well as in social theory, critical theory, philosophy and ethics. His most recent book is Transforming Masculinities : Men, Cultures, Bodies, Power, Sex and Love (Routledge, 2005) .

Academic Adoption Information

This book is used for teaching at the following institutions:

University of Sheffield

Nottingham Trent University

Edinburgh University