Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
This book challenges the widely held stereotype that men either have an impoverished emotional life or are inhibited in talking about their emotions. In this major study of middle-aged and older heterosexual men, Dariusz Galasinski demonstrates that they talk about their emotions both indirectly and openly, that masculinity can be constructed in terms of emotions and emotionality in both men's as well as women's discourse. Taking a radically contextual notion of identity, the author argues further for a disassociation of father's identity from biological fatherhood, demonstrating that men can construct themselves as genderless parents. He shows how, faced with unemployment or other difficult experiences, men and women use the same discursive practices in expressing feelings of helplessness. Finally, the book challenges the notion that gender is relevant to all social interactions, concluding that class, ethnicity or employment are far more significant.Synopsis
Dariusz Galasinski challenges the commonly held association of rationality with masculinity, involving distancing from the language of emotions. Drawing on a major study of heterosexual men talking about their lives and relationships, he demonstrates that men are capable of speaking of emotions and can do so in direct and uninhibited ways. He also discusses the crucial role of emotionality in constructions of masculine identities--those of men, fathers and husbands. The book ends with a proposal for a radically contextual understanding of gender and gender identities.