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Chapter 4: The Rhetorical Shaping of Gender:
Competing Images of Men
I. Introduction to Men’s Movements
A. Images of men as breadwinners have long competed with images of men as engaged
fathers. These competing images challenge and change how we understand
masculinity.
B. Men have been less active than women in movements about gender, often because
they are not generally the targets of gender discrimination or disadvantaged the way
women are.
C. Like women’s movements, men’s groups are constantly evolving with new groups
arising. No single agenda or viewpoint exists unifying men’s movements.
D. Men have been both in support of and in opposition to women’s movements, and
their movements have often begun in response to women’s movements.
II. Profemininst Movements
A. Also called progressive men or male feminists, this movement began in the 1960s as
men faced the sexism present in the New Left groups like SNCC and SDS. They
generally associate with liberal feminism (that men and women are basically alike
and should be treated equally). Their two main goals are:
1. To support women’s battles for equitable treatment and increase women’s
rights.
a. Many men worked in the campaign to ratify the Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) in 1972.
b. Today, the foci of male feminists tend to be equal pay for equal work,
paid parental leaves, and affordable childcare.
c. Some profeminist men perform a traitorous identity, which is when a
man who is a member of a group challenges particular attitudes or
actions that may be common and accepted among members of that
group .
i. One example of this would be pointing out the sexism and
misogyny apparent in a joke told by a friend.
ii. Another example is men who work to persuade their friends
and coworkers to change practices and attitudes that are
discriminatory toward women.
2. To increase men’s emotional development and capacities and be more
caring, sensitive, and open, something that is seen as feminine in our culture.
B. NOMAS: National Organization for Men Against Sexism
1. NOMAS is a male feminist organization that sponsors workshops, speakers,
and annual conferences to increase men’s awareness of options for emotional
expression, ending men’s violence, developing profeminist studies, and
supporting education against homophobia. Four main issues are:
a. Recognizing and resisting masculine power and privilege
b. Ending violence against women
c. Ending homophobia and associated violence
d. Enriching men’s studies
2. Conscious-raising groups similar to those associated with second-wave
feminists allow men to become more open about their feelings.
C. Men’s Antiviolence Groups: These groups see violence against women as a men’s
issue since most violence against women is enacted by men.
1. The White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) is an international organization of men
committed to ending violence against women and is the largest men’s
antiviolence group in the world.
a. Members wear white ribbons between November 25th and December
6th as a symbol of their opposition to violence against women.
b. WRC members present workshops within their communities that
demonstrate violence (including physical violence, emotional violence,
sexual harassment, etc.) is generally committed by men and encourage
the men in attendance to take responsibility for stopping it by speaking
out.
c. The WRC emphasizes that they are not “male bashers” by
acknowledging the majority of men are not violent.
d. WRC works to support women’s groups and activism.
e. Some critics of the WRC argue that it does not go far enough in its
analysis. The problem is not a few violent men, these critics argue, but
the ways in which men and masculinity are defined and formed in
contemporary societies.
2. Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) is an educational program founded
by Jackson Katz that seeks to teach men about the ways in which
aggression and violence are closely linked to cultural views of masculinity
and are routine parts of their socialization.
a. MVP focuses on the role of normative masculinity and the ways in
which violence is seen as a normal part of manhood in our society.
b. MVP emphasizes the role of bystander behavior, or how those who
are aware of violence respond to it. MVP states men must take
personal responsibility to stop violence by both not committing it
and by refusing to condone or allow other men’s violence.
III. Masculinist Men’s Movements
A. Also called promasculine movements, these groups believe that men are the objects
of gender disadvantage and discrimination and that masculinity needs to be
reclaimed. They are positioned against feminists and profeminists.
B. The Men’s Rights Activists’ goal is to restore traditional roles for men and women
and enjoy the privileges men have historically enjoyed.
1. They wish to regain their control as the head of the family, but believe their
superiority to women should not be associated with their ability to fill a
traditional “breadwinner” role.
2. The Free Men is an example of an extreme men’s rights activist group. They
believe that women have more power than men and that men face greater
discrimination and emphasize the burden of the provider role on men and
aim to restore pride in traditional masculine “macho” qualities like
toughness, ruggedness, invulnerability, and self-reliance.
C. Father’s rights groups state that courts discriminate against men by assuming
that women should be the primary parents.
1. The most high profile father’s rights group is Fathers 4 Justice, which relies
on dramatic stunts and the use of humor to draw attention to this issue.
2. Many class action suits have been filed in the United States arguing that
fathers have a constitutional right to be a parent and are thus guaranteed at
least 50% shared custody.
D. Mythopoetic Men, founded by Robert Bly, aims to foster men’s personal growth
by rediscovering the deep, mythic roots of masculine thinking and feeling to
restore spiritual, emotional, and intellectual wholeness.
1. The ideal masculine role existed during ancient times and the Middle Ages,
when men were self-confident, strong, and emotionally alive and sensitive.
2. This ideal masculine role and men’s connection to their work and the earth
were disrupted during by the Industrial Revolution, modernization, and
feminism.
3. When men began working outside the home, young boys lost fathers who
could initiate them into manhood and teach them to relate spiritually and
emotionally to other men. Father hunger is Bly’s term to describe the grief
experienced by modern men born from the yearning to be close to their own
fathers and other men.
4. The movement has received praise for identifying and highlighting the
anguish men may feel because of a distant relationship with their father, but
has been criticized for being unwilling to confront issues of gender inequality
and for their participation in sustaining that inequality.
5. Although popular during 1980s through the 1990s, this movement has largely
been declining, with only a few active groups and few new members.
E. Promise Keepers, founded by Bill McCartney and Dave Wardell, is based on
evangelical Christianity and preaches that men should use God’s
commandments as a guide to understand the responsibilities they hold as men.
1. Based on Christian imperatives, men are required to be good husbands,
fathers, and members of communities. The movement urges men to be
leaders of their families to reflect the “God-given division of labor between
women and men.”
2. Promise Keepers urge men to rely on other men instead of women, believing
that men can hold each other accountable in ways women can’t.
3. Promise Keepers have been criticized for their exclusion of women from their
meetings and their rejection of homosexual men. They have also been
charged with elitism based on a membership that mostly consisted of white,
middle- and upper-class men. In response, the movement has attempted to
recruit a more racially diverse membership and has elected an African
American president. They also have softened their rhetoric about husbands
leading wives.
4. Currently, the movement has experienced a steep decline in membership, but
is trying to reinvigorate itself through international expansion.
F. The Million Man March, founded by Minister Louis Farrakhan and the
Reverend Benjamin Chavis, Jr., aimed to bring black men together to pledge
themselves to spiritual transformation and political action.
1. The march, first held in 1995, is an annual gathering.
2. Men are asked to register to vote, fight drugs in their lives and communities,
stand against unemployment and violence, and recommit themselves to their
wives, families, communities, and churches.
3. The Million Man March has been praised as a positive, uplifting movement
for black men. It has been criticized for excluding women, for encouraging
black men to focus their rage on themselves instead of the larger system of
inequity, for being antifeminist and antigay, and for holding overly
conservative views of families and women.
4. Farrakhan created the Millions More Movement to respond to some of these
criticisms. This group defines itself as an ongoing movement rather than
an annual event and includes all sexes, races, and sexualities. The
Millions More Movement focuses on community development, social and
political change, and spiritual and educational growth.
G. The Good Men Project serves to start a national conversation about what it means to
be a good man today.
1. The goal of the organization is not to dictate to men what it means to be good,
but to help men formulate their own definitions based on other men’s stories
and experiences.
2. The organization’s publication allows men to express themselves without fear
of judgment; however, many women also read the magazine in hopes of better
understanding men’s lives.
Journal Entries
1. Identify the branch of the men’s movements with which you are most comfortable, or explain
why none of the men’s movements discussed in the text appeals to you. Discuss reasons and
implications of your stance.
issues under consideration could be addressed in nondiscriminatory ways.
InfoTrac Activities
1. Choose the Advanced Search option using InfoTrac College Edition. Select keyword and
type in “Mentors in Violence Prevention.” Select the brief article entitled The Boundary of
Spectator Sports by Mariah Burton Nelson. Who is the audience for Katz’s program?
What is the usefulness of choosing this particular audience for a campaign against
violence?
2. Choose the Advanced Search option using InfoTrac College Edition. Select keyword and
type in “Promise Keepers.” Select several brief articles to examine. What are some of the
various representations of the Promise Keepers in media? How does founder Bill
McCartney respond to these representations?
Suggested Activities
1. Exploring the Million Man March: Spike Lee’s film, Get On the Bus, is a useful
springboard for discussion focused upon the Million Man March. Showing a clip (for
2. Men’s Movements and Spirituality: Kimmel’s and Messner’s book, Men’s Lives, offers a
diverse collection of voices on a multiplicity of topics related to masculinity. The
3. Men’s and Women’s Movements Debate: Divide your students into groups and stage a
debate between various women’s and men’s movements (such as Radical Feminists, Third
Wave, Ecofeminists, Free Men, the Promise Keepers, and NOMAS). Ensure that your
students provide reasoned explanations for their positions that correspond with the beliefs
and ideologies of the movement they are representing. Some potential topics for debate:
How should domestic labor be divided between partners? Should women in the military
engage in combat/should women be required to register for the draft?
4. Men’s Movements on video: YouTube has numerous videos related to men’s movements.
Showing clips can be a productive way to help students gain an understanding of the
different assumptions, goals, and individuals who make up these movements. Suggested
clips include The Million Man March Pledge
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3BlfAKqPI); and Robert Bly, “On Being a Man,”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLSKMFb88dw). There are also a large number of
5. Activist Men Panel: Much like with the panel suggested on women’s movements, you
may consider inviting a panel of activist men to talk about their activism in their
6. Social Movement Jeopardy: Another great activity that helps students learn and
distinguish between the various types of feminisms and historical movements, while also
sparking class discussion, is to participate in what we call Social Movement Jeopardy. We
also found that this game was a wonderful way for our students to study for their exam.
Start by creating five different categories: Women’s Movements, Men’s Movements,
Gender Movements, Potpourri, and Dates. The conclusion of the fifth edition provides you
with test questions and answers that you can use to help generate questions. Within each
category there are five questions ranging from 100 points to 500 points. The game is
played just like the television show Jeopardy, although due to time constraints, you may
choose to alter it by forming teams of 4-5 students instead of individual players. The
following questions and answers are provided for you as a starting point. Please add
questions and change dollar values as you see fit.
Women’s Movements
$100.00 Q: This individual attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 as a
representative from the United States. At the convention she was refused participation because
of her sex.
A: Who is Lucretia Coffin Mott?
A: What is the Seneca Falls Convention?
A: What are consciousness-raising or rap groups?
A: What is ecofeminism?
A: What is Betty Friedan’s 1963 book The Feminine Mystique?
Men’s Movements
A: What is NOMAS (National Organization for Men Against Sexism)?
A: Who are Free Men?
A: Who are Bill McCartney and Dave Wardell of the Promise Keepers?
A: Who are male feminists?
A: What is the White Ribbon Campaign?
Gender Movements
A: What is antifeminism/the backlash?
A: Who is Susan Faludi?
A: What is the sex object?
A: What is a traitorous identity?
Potpourri
$100.00 Q: This type of feminism is an emerging movement that recognizes that women and
men are located in a range of systems of domination. Hint: This movement also stresses agency
highlighting experiences of woman of color.
A: What is multiracial feminism?
A: What is revalorism?
A: Who are Minister Louis Farrakhan and Reverend Benjamin Chavis, Jr., of The Million Man
March?
A: Who are mythopoetic men?
A: What are two contradictory arguments that characterize backlash rhetoric?
A: What are examples of backlash against women?
Dates Category
$100.00 Q: Which wave of feminism includes members who sometimes embrace consumerism?
A: What is third wave?
A: What is 1848?
A: What is 1851?
A: What is August 26, 1920?
A: What is the second wave of the women’s movements?
A: What is the first wave of women’s movements?
A: What is 1968?
A: What are everyday acts of resistance?
A: What is 1964?
A: What is October 24 and 25, 1997?
