This is a powerful, at times disturbing but also uplifting book. It is not a scholarly text or the product of deep study - unlike the sociological texts of Hearn or Seidler or for that matter the well researched Iron John.
This is a well written, highly accessible stream of consciousness interspersed with numerous stories of men's experiences as recounted on 'wild man weekends', and the occasional rather supine reference to Robert Bly.
It is divided into four parts. In 'The Wound', we discover that the damage done to us by our fathers is profound and unpleasant. At times I found myself feeling very miserable reading it. 'The Journey' takes us through the initiations and rites-of-passage required to regain some sense of our true masculinity, and begin to marry this to our true femininity - our 'Princess'. In the third section, 'The Healing', we are offered further examples of self help and acknowledgement of pain and ways in which men can offer and receive support and warmth. 'The Future' is a short discussion on the New Male, covering groupwork, actions against failure and exercises for letting go of Dad.
This is all well and good. The crucial questions, however, remain tantalisingly outside our grasp. When it comes to what men and women are actually doing to change society, problems arise. There is no mention of power. No critical understanding of patriarchal relations. Class issues are touched on, as is racism, but not explicitly and not with any serious understanding of the disadvantages women, working class people and black people face. This book left me with the feeling that if we, as men, were all very nice to one another things would somehow work themselves out. Okay for the weekend, but what about Monday morning?
Nigel Larcombe
Copyright © Achilles Heel Collective
