Mordant Belle

Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity
By Robert Jensen, 2007, South End Press, 200 pages
Mel’s Reading Status: UNREAD

Commentary:
Robert Jensen is one of my favorite “modern” authors. He’s also written a couple of books on empire and whiteness, both of which are destined to get on this list some day. I am eagerly awaiting the ability to read this book (once I get through all the other ones, so in about three decades or so.) It sits patiently on my bookshelf, waiting for me. This powerful critique of pornography is supposed to be eye-opening.

The study of masculinity is, I think, crucial to feminism, because it is contemporary definitions of masculinity (or, really, masculinity at all) that we are struggling to overcome. Pornography is deeply tied to masculinity, in ways I think most people don’t really think about because our first thoughts when someone say “porn” usually involve visuals of a slutty plasticky woman. But porn makes a strong statement about masculinity and being a man, and what that supposedly looks like.

The more guys I talk to, the more clear it becomes that porn is the major source of most guys’ (especially young guys) sex education. Which explains a lot about how and why my generation is so fucked up in that department. That’s why side-by-side critiques of porn and masculinity — especially coming from a guy, who’s been there, done that — are so important.

Interview from MediaMouse.org about the book

Additional Comments always welcome.

-

From the author of The Macho Paradox comes Tough Guise, a great documentary which I watched during one of my Media Studies classes.

Here’s an excellent preview; more embedded below the fold.

Read more

The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and and How All Men Can Help
By Jason Katz, 2006, Sourcebooks, 296 pages
Mel’s Reading Status: UNREAD

Commentary:
This popped up on my Amazon recommendations, and it looks fascinating. Katz, who I never heard of before looking at this book, is a famous anti-sexist and anti-violence advocate, specializing in prevention. Once I started looking into him and his work, I realized I’d already seen some of it, as the man behind Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity, an excellent documentary from the Media Education Foundation, who I hope to post on more in the future.

Summary, Description, and/or History:
From Publisher’s Weekly, via Amazon.com:

“Katz is cofounder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention Program (MVP), and his focus is on prevention—his intended audience is not violent men who need help changing their ways, but all men, who, he says, have a role to play in preventing male violence against women.
His basic assertion is that rape, battering, sexual abuse and harassment are so widespread that they must be viewed as a social problem rooted in our culture, not as the problem of troubled individuals. He urges men to directly confront the misogynistic attitudes and behavior of their peers.
Some men may find Katz’s advice occasionally baffling: he is full of directions about what not to do (such as paternalistic actions that deprive women of their autonomy). He wants to bring men into the larger discussion of pornography (which, he points out, has been dominated by women) and get them to look at its impact on themselves. Katz also presents eye-opening exercises and discussions from the MVP model that engender productive discussion among participants — usually high school or college students.”

A great excerpt from the opening page:

“Most people think violence against women is a woman’s issue. And why wouldn’t they? Just about every women in this society thinks about it every day. If they are not getting harassed on the street, living in an abusive relationship, recovering from a rape, or in therapy to deal with the sexual abuse they suffered as children, they are ordering their daily lives around the threat of men’s violence.
But it is a mistake to call men’s violence a women’s issue.”

Additional Comments always welcome.

-