Prof's Choice

Sex, Identity, and Manhood

Michael Kimmel, Manhood in America: A Cultural History (The Free Press, 1996). A sweeping history of changing images of manhood in America from the Revolutionary War to the 19905.

Michael Messner and Donald Sabo, Sex, Violence, and Powerin Sports: Rethinking Masculinity (The Crossing Press, 1994). Written by two ex-jocks with Ph.D.s, the book is a collection of essays focusing on violence and sexism in sports. Its concluding essay is optimistically entitled "Changing Men Through Changing Sports: An ElevenPoint Strategy."

Alvin Baraff, Men Talk: How Men Really Feel about Women,Sex, Relationships, and Themselves (Dutton, 1991). Baraff, a psychiatrist who specializes in men's issues, presents what he has found to be the most important concerns in men's discussion groups. A few chapter titles: "Men's Fear of Therapy," "Avoiding Feelings," "Yearning for Missed Fathers," "Loneliness in a Relationship," "'Shadow' Mothers and their Sons."

David Gilmore, Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity (Yale University Press, 1990). This anthropological study demonstrates that masculinity is a social construction, varying from culture to culture, and changing within cultures. Some cultures have much more macho, aggressive, violent, hard-drinking, self-destructive images of expected male behavior than we do; others view masculinity as not very different from femininity.

Alain Berliner, director, Ma Vie en Rose. This recent Belgian film about a boy who believes he is a girl, and the reactions of his middle-class family, is a wonderful exploration of the nature and difficulties of sexual identity. Maurice Berger, Brian Wallis, and Simon Watson, editors, Constructing Masculinity (Routledge, 1995). An exploration of maleness and masculinity in the media and the arts with suggestions of how we can transcend the stereotypes. Particularly stimulating are Judith Butler's "Melancholy Gender/ Refused Identification and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's "Gosh, Boy George, You Must Be Awfully Secure in Your Masculinity."

Andrew Garrod, Lisa Smulyan, Sally Powers, Robert Kilkenny, editors, Adolescent Portraits: Identity, Relationships, and Challenges (Allyn and Bacon, 199). Edited by four developmental psychologists, this casebook includes autobiographical stories by male college students white, African American, Vietnamese American which explore issues of sexuality, sexual orientation, relationships, and identity.

Carole R. Beal, Boys & Girls: The Development of Gender Roles(McGraw ill, 1993). A former Dartmouth professor discusses how biology and socialization shape children's development as males or females.

Garrod

Travis