Ingram's review proves this book hits the nail on the head

books:


	• Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture Paul Nathanson, Katherine Young McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006 - 370 pages average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Institutionalization of Man-Hating

I thought this book was going to be "preaching to the already-converted" since I had been aware of man-hating becoming an all-pervasive feature of American films and TV since the early 90s. But Nathanson and Young gave me a lot more than mere support for what I already believed. I got a much better understanding of the situation on a much deeper level. Their argument is clearly and logically presented. I'll admit that the relatively brief discussions of "Deconstruction" and "Post-Modernism" made me (a non-academic) squirm, but they were important to laying down the basics for the overall presentation and were presented in an understandable manner. Oh, and at times the authors lay on the irony a little too thick and perhaps go a bit over-the-top in some of their interpretations of films, but overall, this is a brilliant book that has broadened the scope of my thinking. It is also a disturbing book. Is there a way out of this? Or is misandry to be permanently institutionalized? The authors provide no remedy. That is depressing.

This is an extraordinarily insightful book that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone with an intellect. The essay that serves as Appendix 4, "Populist or Elitist? Talk Shows in the Context of Democracy," is an important work on its own. I wish the authors would write another book directed at a more populist audience. I think that perhaps some people in the general audience may tune out during the "Post-Modernism" and "Deconstruction" segments, but I think this is a terrific book and I am grateful to the authors for writing it. I thought I was the only one who had noticed.

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A Much-Needed Book

This excellent book presents convincing evidence of the pervasiveness of misandry (contempt for men) in popular culture. Written in a very scholarly manner and carefully documented, it analyzes numerous movies, cartoons and tv shows to prove this point. The reader is clearly shown how men are ridiculed and insulted in virtually every advertisement, cartoon and movie by individuals (male and female) who feel duty-bound to put men down at every opportunity.

Some readers wonder why so few men complain about this kind of treatment. The reason is clear. Western culture has a double standard whereby women may complain endlessly, but men must keep their mouths shut. It is not macho for a man to complain. Thus if a man dares to complain about misandry, he is likely to be reviled as a whimp, a whiner or a male chauvinist pig. Faced with such vilification, is it any wonder that men are reluctant to speak out? They know full well that they will never be taken seriously.

While some of the misandry emanates from men, much of it comes from feminists as well. All this and more is addressed in this well-written book. It should be required reading for all social science students.

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A Good First Step On a Much Needed Path

Misandry - the hatred or contempt for men - is a very strange phenomenon. Many people have become more aware of a significant uptick in recent years of the denigration of men, usually referred to as male bashing, yet examples of such are so widespread and diffuse that most instances go unnoticed. Many people, especially men, are reluctant to discuss the issue. Doing so not only exposes emotional vulnerability, difficult for many men, but also because those most likely to engage in male bashing are also most likely to ridicule and belittle any man who protests against it.

In SPREADING MISANDRY, the authors Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young not only take up the issue, and do so quite well, but also address those mechanisms that prevent the issue from being better recognized and challenged. The result is a very good book that could pave the way for more widespread discussions of the issue.

The authors focus on misandry in pop culture, most notably movies and TV shows but also greeting cards and cartoons. This focus on pop culture is, in my opinion, one of the strengths of the book as it allows the reader to see how misandry has seeped into the larger culture rather than simply exist within some small isolated corner, such as among academic feminists.

The actual analyses of various movies and TV shows is usually pretty good and at times is exceptional. Interestingly, the authors discuss misandry in moral terms and this infuses their take on things. It is pointed out again and again that male characters are not only evil, but intrinsically so. The directors of such movies feel no need to explain why men are evil. This is not so for women characters who, if they behave in a similar manner, are contextualized so that their behavior is seen not only more sympathetically but usually as a result of mistreatment by men.

Nathanson and Young also focus in on one of the more typical tactics to promote misandry: the one-sided interpretation. This is especially useful in historical pieces as it allows women to be portrayed as having had their choices severely constricted in the past while not pointing out that the same was true for the overwhelming majority of men as well. Producers of such material then defend their pieces by pointing out, well, women did have their choices constricted. But it is not the truth of such a portrayal that is of interest here but rather that men are portrayed as being far, far more privileged than was actually the case. This allows for the male-privileged/female-oppressed dichotomy to flourish in a more subtle manner than overt trashing of men.

If there is a weak point to the book it is that the authors spend more time than is necessary on movies and TV shows that do not even rise to the level of mediocre. More time on other aspects of pop culture, such as the aforementioned greeting cards and comics, would have been some time better spent. Nonetheless, Nathanson and Young are working in fresh territory and some leeway is warranted. Kind of ironic, isn't it? The universities are filled with people who cry out against the injustices of the past and who arrogantly believe that if they themselves had lived way back when, they would have had the moral courage to stand up for what is right. Yet these same academics do live in a time in which some groups are unfairly maligned and stigmatized and not only do they do nothing to stop it, they usually contribute to the problem. SPREADING MISANDRY is a welcome bucking of that trend.

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The Premier Men's Rights Book.

I am intimately, in every sense of the word, familiar with most of the men's rights literature, and I have to say that looking back on all the magnificent, avant-garde (and frankly heroic) publications assaulting radical feminism and political correctness in general, this work by Nathanson and Young was, and is, the finest moment. Spreading Misandry is meticulous in its research and analysis. It is also ambitious and deep in its coverage of popular culture. Wading through the often offensive and boring television shows, articles, commercials, and opinion which comprise an unmistakable misandric bias is not an easy task, but the authors did it and through their own "deconstructions" present the most compelling case imaginable. I'm writing my own work on this subject and I doubt that I can limit myself to 20 endnotes from these pages. This work is high brow, sophisticated, and absolutely magnificent. Nathanson and Young are our elite and I personally thank them for their efforts. Furthermore, I am saddened that their follow up book can only be obtained after a four to six week wait which showcases just how little society is concerned about pervasive misandry. As for me, I just placed a used copy on order and will report back my opinion just in case anyone is hedging on their own purchase.

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Ingram's review proves this book hits the nail on the head

In his review above under Library Journal, Jeff Ingram proves that he either did not read all of the book, or he did not understand it, but either way he commits two of the errors which the authors specifically raise: the trivializing of misandry, and the justification of it.
Now providing us with a classic example of these, first Ingram trivializes misandry by apparently saying, 'oh well, the media is going to engage in this sort of thing anyway..'; he then justifies misandry by stating 'someone has to be the bad person', implying that it might as well be the man (and it usually is, which Ingram would know if he had read all the pages).
Finally, his notion that this one volume, will somehow 'balance' the massive feminist literature on misogyny, is a joke.
Thank you Mr. Ingram, for inadvertantly endorsing the book!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young argue that since the 1990s men have been portrayed in popular culture as evil, inadequate, or honorary women, from Designing Women, Home Improvement, Oprah, and Cape Fear to Hallmark cards, comic strips, and the New York Times columns of Anna Quindlen. The first of a three-part series, Spreading Misandry offers an impressive critique of popular culture to identify a phenomenon that is just now being recognized as a serious cultural problem - misandry, the sexist counterpart of misogyny. Nathanson and Young urge us to rethink prevalent assumptions about men that result in profoundly disturbing stereotypes that foster contempt. Spreading Misandry breaks new ground by discussing misandry in moral terms rather than purely psychological or sociological ones and by criticizing not only ideological feminism but other ideologies on both the left and the right.

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