Heart of Maleness
An Exploration
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
In this timely, self-reflective essay, a groundbreaking sociologist and philosopher examines the underlying causes of gender inequality and how we can fight against it.
Following the shocking, infuriating accounts shared as part of the #MeToo movement, Raphaël Liogier felt compelled to apply his academic expertise to shed light on the roots of gender inequality and its many manifestations, including catcalling, workplace harassment, and rape, as well as the glass ceiling and the gender pay gap. In the brazenness of Donald Trump, who brags about groping women, in the hypocrisy of outspoken progressives whose private behavior belies their so-called feminist ideals, and even occasionally in the good intentions of men such as Liogier who strive to be allies, we can see the influence of a deep-seated fantasy of male dominance.
With candor and clarity, Liogier demonstrates that the archetypal Prince Charming and a monstrous predator such as Harvey Weinstein are two sides of the same coin—products of a worldview that not only places a man's desires above a woman's, but also doubts whether women are fundamentally capable of knowing what they want. Recent years have witnessed significant progress toward gender equality, from the ousting of prominent men accused of sexual misconduct to the unprecedented popularity of the 2019 Women's World Cup. Heart of Maleness maps out the crucial work still to be done, first and foremost addressing the core male fantasy about women's bodies and minds.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
French philosopher Liogier makes his English-language debut with an incisive critique of the Western cultural construct of "maleness." He traces ideas of virility and its "negative corollary," femininity, to the archaic practice of "measuring a man's status by the number of women he possesses," and argues that in order to solve gender inequality society must break down the "fantasy" of male dominance. Classifying serial abuser Harvey Weinstein as an example of "Don Juanism" (the systemic denial of women's free will and right to pleasure), Liogier calls on readers to assign a "transcendental value, unquestionable a priori" to a woman's consent, rather than accepting the Hollywood stereotype that she can never fully express her own desires. He believes that the patriarchal system is in its "death throes," and offers French president Emmanuel Macron's marriage to a woman 25 years his senior as an example of a liberated relationship in which feminine and masculine identities are "transvalued," rather than erased. Liogier doesn't address how activism might help to enact the wholesale social changes he believes are necessary, and some philosophical concepts could be better defined. But as a call for men to reexamine the ways they've "been conditioned to view and desire women," this short book achieves its goals.
