What do recent events such as #MeToo, the election of Donald Trump, and an onslaught of mass shootings perpetrated by white men all have in common? They’ve all provoked important cultural conversations about manhood in America.
About 60% of men believe that society puts unhealthy pressure on men. Michael Ian Black declared in a recent buzzed-about New York Times op-ed that, “America’s boys are broken. And it’s killing us.”
Though women’s studies-- a field that has long helped to parse the nuances of womanhood-- has become somewhat entrenched in our cultural discourse, men’s studies--a subset of feminist/gender studies aimed at critically analyzing manhood and masculinity-- has yet to earn a real space in the conversation. Many argue that our aversion to talking about men and manhood is hurting women and men alike.
What is unique about being a man today? Is masculinity in crisis? What steps are men taking to preserve or shift their own definitions of manhood?
We wanna know what you think it means to be a man in 2018. Call us at (860)-275-7272.
GUESTS:
- Anna Sale - Reporter; host and managing editor of WNYC’s Death, Sex, and Money podcast.
- Thomas Page McBee - Vice’s “masculinity expert” and a former editor at Quartz. His memoir, Man Alive, was named one of the best books of 2014 by NPR Books. His newest book is Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man a Man.
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Colin McEnroe, Betsy Kaplan, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.