THE LIMITS OF MASCULINITY

by Andrew Tolson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1978

In 1973 Englishman Andrew Tolson and several other Birmingham men formed a consciousness-raising group to explore the ""feminist challenge to male sexuality."" It is difficult to believe that this book represents the outcome of ""overlapping personal accounts,"" for although it contains some individual quotes it is in large part a dry, self-conscious academic exercise. Tolson's main points are now commonly recognized--that the ""characteristics we define as 'masculine' are culture specific,"" that in ""Western, industrialized capitalist societies, definitions of masculinity are bound up with definitions of work,"" and that ""feminism explicitly invites men. . . to discover new forms of masculine identity,"" His discussion of the ""institutionalization"" of masculinity is painfully class-conscious (e.g., working class peer-group values are expressed ""not so much in an inner, compulsive struggle for achievement, as through a collective toughness""). The discussion of work as ""made palatable only through the kinds of compensations masculinity can provide"" is also preoccupied with Marxist doctrine (e.g., worker alienation from the ""product of his labour""). Cerebral and, for an American audience, out of touch.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION