Book overview
An Instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller
With her signature candor and wit, New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Moran attempts to answer society's weirdly unasked question: What About Men?
Like anyone offering cultural commentary on the problems of girls and women in public, Caitlin Moran has often been confronted with the question: "But what about men?" And at first, tbh, she dgaf. Boys, and men, are fine, right? Feminism doesn't need to worry about them.
However, around the time she heard an angry young man saying he was "boycotting" International Women's Day because "It's easier to be a woman than a man these days," she started to wonder: are unhappy boys, and men, also making unhappy women? The statistics on male misery and the crisis in male mental health are grim: boys are falling behind in school, are at greater risk of depression, greater risk of suicide, and, most pertinently, are increasingly at risk from online misogynist radicalization in the manosphere. Will the Sixth Wave of feminism need to fix the men, if it wants to fix the women?
Moran began to investigate--talking to her husband, close male friends, and her daughters' friends: bringing up very difficult and candid topics, and receiving vulnerable and honest responses. So: what about men? Why do they only go to the doctor if their partner makes them? Why do they never discuss their penises with each other--but make endless jokes about their balls? What is porn doing for young men? Is sexual strangling a good hobby for young people to have? Are men ever allowed to be sad? Are they ever allowed to lose? Have Men's Rights Activists confused "power" with "empowerment"? Are Mid-Life Crises actually quite cool? And what's the deal with Jordan Peterson's lobster?
In this thoughtful, warm, provocative book on modern masculinity, Moran opens a genuinely new debate about how to reboot masculinity for the twenty-first century, so that "straight white man" doesn't automatically mean bad news--but also uses the opportunity to make a lot of jokes about testicles, and trousers. Because if men have neither learned to mine their deepest anxieties about masculinity for comedy, nor answered the question "What About Men?," then it's up to a busy woman to do it.
This is the book that asks the questions men don't ask each other--and gets some startlingly honest answers.
- Feminism for Men: Moran explores the provocative idea that the next wave of feminism needs to address the crisis in masculinity to help everyone.
- From Jordan Peterson to Andrew Tate: A sharp, witty look at the influencers shaping the conversation for young men--and yes, she finally explains the deal with the lobster.
- Men's Health: An honest look at why men avoid the doctor, why they don't talk about their penises, and what happens when they finally start opening up.
- A New Blueprint for Manhood: Beyond the stereotypes, Moran offers a thoughtful and funny new debate for what it means to be a good man in the twenty-first century.
