Constructing Masculinity

Constructing Masculinityis an anthology of 21 original texts based on presentations at theConstructing Masculityconference held at the DIA Center for the Arts in New York. Constructing Masculinitiesis organized into five discursive areas addressed by leading academics, social and applied scientists, legal scholars, poets, activists and cultural critics. "What is Masculinity?" questions society's normative standards of the masculine and contemplates the extent to which men and women can transcend these stereotypes and proscriptions; "Masculinity and Representation" explores the ways in which representations of masculinity and maleness in the media and the arts produce, challenge and ultimately shape notions of the masculine; "How Science Defines Men" and "Masculinity and the Rule of Law" consider masculinity in relationship to science and law, two dominant social institutions that play a vital role in constructing stereotypes and establishing gendered power relationships;"Male Subjectivity and Responsibilty" asks how an informed and activist notion of masculinity can contribute to the political debates about identity and power. Constructing Masculinitytakes us beyond the notion of "men in feminism" to a more radical rethinking of the status of masculinity itself. Men must do more than admit their complicity in the patriarchy; they must begin to rethink the very boundaries that shape and define what it means to be a man. Conversely, women must play an important role in this reevaluation, an idea suggested by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's admonition that "when something is about masculinity, it isn't always 'about men."' Far from being just about men,Constructing Masculinityengages, inflicts upon, and has vital meaning for all members of society. Contributors:Stanley Aronowitz, Derrick Bell, Leo Bersani, Homi Bhabha, Marcellus Blount, Judith Butler, Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, Barbara Ehrenreich, AnneFausto-Sterling, Richard Fung, Sander Gilman, Marjorie Heins, bell hooks, Wayne Koestenbaum, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Carrie Mai, Philomena Mariani, Andrew Ross, Sapphire, Paul Smith, Abagail Solomon-Godeau, Michael Taussig, Kendall Thomas, Carole Vance, Michele Wallace, Simon Watney, Patricia Williams, George Yudice