Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men
Author:
Genres: Health, Fitness & Dieting, Parenting & Relationships
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genres: Health, Fitness & Dieting, Parenting & Relationships
Book Type: Hardcover
In Guyland, a professor of sociology examines the culture of (mostly) white males from high school to age thirty or so. This book's intended audience may have been parents of sons, but as a thirty-something female I found this book fascinating. Boys are physically developing into men faster than their grandparents, but emotionally they are developing much later: I know a number of young men about my age who still behave as though they are in college, and that is the type of guy that this book addresses.
Kimmel does spend some time sympathetically addressing the pressure that young men face, but the majority of chapters focus on undesirable behaviors (rape, binge drinking, hazing) and somewhat normal behaviors taken to testosterone driven extremes (consumerism, pornography, sports fandom.) Although many of the examples are from the media and certainly not representative of most guys, the author does make a convincing case that complicity only helps perpetuate such behaviors. These chapters were fascinating, particularly some of the candid quotations shared with the author. Unfortunately these were fewer than I would have liked.
The final two chapters, which focus on how young women's behavior contributes to the problems of Guyland and suggestions for reforming Guyland are the weakest. The former didn't seem to have a place in this book as there are already far more insightful books written about young women, and the latter had little in terms of concrete suggestions. Instead the author calls for parents and society to be supportive of young men so that they can develop boy scout like values... unfortunately this is easier said than done, and the type of parents and citizens that need to read this book certainly won't.
Despite its faults, this is worth reading if only because there are so few addressing this subject. Though intended for parents of boys, parents of young women would be wise to give this book to their daughters as well, especially if the daughter is planning to join a sorority!
Kimmel does spend some time sympathetically addressing the pressure that young men face, but the majority of chapters focus on undesirable behaviors (rape, binge drinking, hazing) and somewhat normal behaviors taken to testosterone driven extremes (consumerism, pornography, sports fandom.) Although many of the examples are from the media and certainly not representative of most guys, the author does make a convincing case that complicity only helps perpetuate such behaviors. These chapters were fascinating, particularly some of the candid quotations shared with the author. Unfortunately these were fewer than I would have liked.
The final two chapters, which focus on how young women's behavior contributes to the problems of Guyland and suggestions for reforming Guyland are the weakest. The former didn't seem to have a place in this book as there are already far more insightful books written about young women, and the latter had little in terms of concrete suggestions. Instead the author calls for parents and society to be supportive of young men so that they can develop boy scout like values... unfortunately this is easier said than done, and the type of parents and citizens that need to read this book certainly won't.
Despite its faults, this is worth reading if only because there are so few addressing this subject. Though intended for parents of boys, parents of young women would be wise to give this book to their daughters as well, especially if the daughter is planning to join a sorority!
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