Better Boys, Better Men
The New Masculinity That Creates Greater Courage and Emotional Resiliency
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- £11.99
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
A thought-provoking and much-needed look at how modern masculinity is harming and holding back men—and all of society—and what we can do to promote a new masculinity that allows men of all ages to thrive.
In Better Boys, Better Men, cultural critic and New York Times contributor Andrew Reiner argues that men today are working on an outdated model of masculinity, which prevents them in moments of distress and vulnerability from marshalling the courage, strength, and resiliency—the very characteristics we regularly champion in men—they need to thrive in a world vastly different from the ones their fathers and grandfathers grew up in. According to Reiner, this outdated model of manhood can have devastating effects on the entire culture and, especially boys and men, from falling behind in the classroom and rising male unemployment rates to increased levels of depression and disturbing upticks in violence on a mass scale.
Reiner interviews boys and men of all ages, educators, counselors, therapists, and physicians throughout the United States to better understand what factors are preventing the country’s boys and men from developing the emotional resiliency they need. He also introduces readers to the boys and men at the vanguard of a new masculinity that empowers them to find and express the full range of their humanity.
Urgent and necessary, Better Boys, Better Men will change the way we talk about boys and men in America today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Reiner, a lecturer in the English department at Towson University, contends in his lucid and well-researched debut that traditional masculine norms prevent boys and men from "tap into the full range of their deeper humanity." Frank interviews with men of all ages and reflections on his own experiences as a man raising a young son add emotional depth to Reiner's research into the "developmental male arc" from infancy through middle age. He cites studies showing that infant boys are actually more "socially engaged" with their mothers than infant girls, yet require "much more help calming down and feeling emotionally secure," and debunks myths about the links between testosterone and aggression. According to Reiner, the "toxic mindset" that becoming a man means "learning how to toughen up and compete" is feeding current epidemics of loneliness, violence, and suicide among men. His solution, glimpsed in scenes from a Washington, D.C., private school and a correctional institution, is to teach boys and men how to experience the full range of their emotions and express their vulnerability. Parents, educators, coaches, counselors, and scholars of gender studies will want to take a look at this humane and inspirational portrait of an emotionally grounded, resilient masculinity.
