It was always going to be an over-ambitious exercise to articulate the goals of a "critical men's movement.... at a time when right-wing extremism, religious fundamentalism and divisive identity politics are polarising the nation". This collection of essays from mostly American academics, poets and activists ultimately reinforces differing agendas and fails to establish consensus on the very existence of masculinity itself.
The essays are grouped around headings relating to science, law, media and politics. They range from Wayne Koestenbaum's vexed elegy to his father's childhood in Nazi Germany, to Kendall Thomas's complex but revealing evaluation of the link between masculinity and the rule of law. A photographic essay runs throughout the book, offering a visual commentary on the fluid and unpredictable nature of male identity.
The book's efforts to move beyond the "men in feminism" debate remains confused, and it never really offers any redefinitions of what it means to be a man. Maybe the struggle which underpins many of these essays is inevitable, particularly given the attempt to address constructions of black masculinity which can usurp their status as the "invisible men" of gender studies. Essays worthy of particular mention include Homi Bhabha's "Are You A Man Or A Mouse? ", Patricia William's moving account of her observations of her young black son in "Meditations on Masculinity" and Leo Bersani's "Loving Men" which ends with the delightful notion of "difference not as a trauma to be overcome, but rather as a non-threatening supplement to sameness".
The advantage of a collection such as this is the ability to dip in and out of selected essays and subject areas, discarding the unintelligible and replaying the allusive, much as you would with a CD compilation. Perhaps the last word on the editor's endeavour to formulate a coherent men's movement comes from Richard Fung, "When I think of movement and men I think of troops".
Robin Tuddenham
Copyright © Achilles Heel Collective
