Manhood in America: A Cultural HistoryFree Press, 1996 - 544 pages In a time when psychologists are rediscovering Darwin, and much of our social behavioral is being reduced to ancient, hard-wired patterns, Michael Kimmel's history of manhood in America comes as a much needed reminder that our behavior as men and women is anything but stable and fixed. Kimmel's authoritative, entertaining, and wide-ranging history of men in America demonstrates that manhood has meant very different things in different eras. Drawing on advice books, magazines, political pamphlets, and popular novels and films, he makes two surprising claims: First, manhood is homosocial - that is, men need to prove themselves to each other, not to women. Second, definitions of manliness have evolved in response to women's movements. When women act, men react. Originally, manliness was an internal virtue and a democratic ideal - British men were viewed as fops, and American men had to be independent, honest, and responsible. By the 1890s, however, manhood changed to masculinity, something that had to be constantly proven through the new explosion of sports, fraternities, and fashion. Finally, in 1936, Lewis Terman, the creator of the IQ test, developed an "M-F" test to analyze adolescents' masculinity and femininity. Until well into the 1960s, the test penalized boys who preferred to draw flowers instead of forests, or who knew that a teacup was used for drinking tea. But just as Terman's categories and questions seem outdated to us, so will our own standards seem temporary to our successors. |
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Page viii
... lost along the path growing up . The American media had a pleasant collective chuckle at the sight of all these middle - class , middle - age white guys trooping off like so many lost lemmings after the sage elder poet Robert Bly and ...
... lost along the path growing up . The American media had a pleasant collective chuckle at the sight of all these middle - class , middle - age white guys trooping off like so many lost lemmings after the sage elder poet Robert Bly and ...
Page 224
... lost both his hands in the war and struggles to reveal his dependency to his steadfast fiancée . ( One of the more innovative elements of the film was that Russell was actually a veteran who had lost both his hands , not an actor ...
... lost both his hands in the war and struggles to reveal his dependency to his steadfast fiancée . ( One of the more innovative elements of the film was that Russell was actually a veteran who had lost both his hands , not an actor ...
Page 319
... lost on feminists in the late nineteenth century , it is not lost on feminist women today . " The cry for revital- ized initiation rites , for mentors , for sacred space , sounds ominously familiar - like a cry to reinforce the ...
... lost on feminists in the late nineteenth century , it is not lost on feminist women today . " The cry for revital- ized initiation rites , for mentors , for sacred space , sounds ominously familiar - like a cry to reinforce the ...
Contents
The Birth of the SelfMade Man | 13 |
SelfControl and Fantasies of Escape | 43 |
PART | 79 |
Copyright | |
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