Transforming Men: Changing Patterns of Dependency and Dominance in Gender Relations (Social Policy and Social Theory Series) - Softcover

Dench, Geoff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560002328 ISBN 13: 9781560002321

Verlag: Transaction Publishers, 1996

Inhaltsangabe

Transforming Men proposes that much of patriarchy is a theatrical illusion. Presenting men as more important and powerful than they really are should be seen as a way of controlling them, rather than as a system for dominating women. The author believes that both men and women need to feel that other people are dependent on them.
Dench states that women acquire a sense of responsibility through the direct dependence of children, but most men can only come to experience responsibility via women. If women reject the male breadwinning role, then men will never develop the altruistic incentive. Dench urges that men need to be given a greater stake than women in the public realm in order to be the main family providers and become caring members of society. Dispensing with male privileges and formal position, the author continues, will simply reveal and revive older and deeper problems, to which patriarchy itself was a historical and sociological solution.
Dench does not deny the possibility that if men did behave as feminists have asked or expected, then certainly we would be living in a far better world. However, he asserts that it is too simple to just blame men for the fact that this has not happened; perhaps the real failure lies in feminist approaches and theories. Thus, Dench persuasively argues that feminism may be making the male problem worse, not better by insisting on everything from absolute parity to role reversal.
Transforming Men contains examples of many different feminist viewpoints, including those of Margaret Mead, Betty Friedan, and Camille Paglia. It also uses contemporary cultural instances, such as popular movies, television shows, and books, to emphasize its points.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Geoff Dench is currently visiting professor and head of the Centre for Community Studies at Middlesex University, in London.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Transaction Publishers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1996
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1560002328
• ISBN 13: 9781560002321
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 273
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar