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What Is Wrong with Men : Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything by Jessa Crispin (2025, Hardcover)
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"How to be a Man?. In the 1980s, the rules for masculinity began to change. So, then, how to be a man?.
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN-100593317629
ISBN-139780593317624
eBay Product ID (ePID)26071456634
Product Key Features
Book TitleWhat Is Wrong with Men : Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything
Number of Pages288 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2025
TopicFeminism & Feminist Theory, Sociology / General, Gender Studies, Film / History & Criticism
GenrePerforming Arts, Social Science
AuthorJessa Crispin
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1 in
Item Weight14.8 Oz
Item Length8.6 in
Item Width5.8 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2024-032096
Reviews"Using one actor's filmography as a codex, Jessa Crispin has done what so many sociologists, psychologists, and other experts have not been able to: clearly, shrewdly locate the origins of our ongoing 'man crisis' not in feminism but in rampant, extractive capitalism. In Douglas's leading men, Crispin finds a timeline of the bait-and-switch that hollowed out American masculinity, leaving in place the old ideals, but not the opportunities." --Andi Zeisler, author of We Were Feminists Once "The most surprising thing about Jessa's prescient, rigorous, and sneakily hilarious What Is Wrong with Men , is how quickly and easily (and, for me, shamefully) she shifted my 'Michael Douglas explains the modern man? Really?' skepticism to 'Get out of my brain!' and then to 'Wait ... am I Michael Douglas?'" --Damon Young, author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker, "Crispin's adept cultural synthesis is delivered with amusing snark and an undertone of increasing anxiety, pontifical concern, and moral urgency designed to confront the current moment. A fiery synopsis of a formative period for American masculinity." -- Kirkus "Crispin's expansive cultural analysis is astute and well researched, showing how men, rather than redefining gender dynamics alongside women, saw the '80s and '90s as 'a time of disempowerment' and turned instead to a winner takes all individualism." -- Publishers Weekly "Using one actor's filmography as a codex, Jessa Crispin has done what so many sociologists, psychologists, and other experts have not been able to: clearly, shrewdly locate the origins of our ongoing 'man crisis' not in feminism but in rampant, extractive capitalism. In Douglas's leading men, Crispin finds a timeline of the bait-and-switch that hollowed out American masculinity, leaving in place the old ideals, but not the opportunities." --Andi Zeisler, author of We Were Feminists Once "The most surprising thing about Jessa's prescient, rigorous, and sneakily hilarious What Is Wrong with Men , is how quickly and easily (and, for me, shamefully) she shifted my 'Michael Douglas explains the modern man? Really?' skepticism to 'Get out of my brain!' and then to 'Wait ... am I Michael Douglas?'" --Damon Young, author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker "Jessa Crispin told us what is wrong with contemporary white, bourgeois feminism in Why I Am Not a Feminist . In her new book, she tells us--and not a moment too soon--what is wrong with men, slyly examining the transformations, adaptations, and metamorphoses of masculinity through Michael Douglas' cinematic roles. What is Wrong with Men is whip smart and hilarious, an unforgettable condemnation of patriarchy, and the cultural, economic, and political institutions that uphold it." -- Tanya Pearson, author of Pretend We're Dead: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Women in Rock in the 90s, One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of Spring "Crispin's adept cultural synthesis is delivered with amusing snark and an undertone of increasing anxiety, pontifical concern, and moral urgency designed to confront the current moment. A fiery synopsis of a formative period for American masculinity." -- Kirkus "Crispin's expansive cultural analysis is astute and well researched, showing how men, rather than redefining gender dynamics alongside women, saw the '80s and '90s as 'a time of disempowerment' and turned instead to a winner takes all individualism." -- Publishers Weekly "Using one actor's filmography as a codex, Jessa Crispin has done what so many sociologists, psychologists, and other experts have not been able to: clearly, shrewdly locate the origins of our ongoing 'man crisis' not in feminism but in rampant, extractive capitalism. In Douglas's leading men, Crispin finds a timeline of the bait-and-switch that hollowed out American masculinity, leaving in place the old ideals, but not the opportunities." --Andi Zeisler, author of We Were Feminists Once "The most surprising thing about Jessa's prescient, rigorous, and sneakily hilarious What Is Wrong with Men , is how quickly and easily (and, for me, shamefully) she shifted my 'Michael Douglas explains the modern man? Really?' skepticism to 'Get out of my brain!' and then to 'Wait ... am I Michael Douglas?'" --Damon Young, author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker "Jessa Crispin told us what is wrong with contemporary white, bourgeois feminism in Why I Am Not a Feminist . In her new book, she tells us--and not a moment too soon--what is wrong with men, slyly examining the transformations, adaptations, and metamorphoses of masculinity through Michael Douglas' cinematic roles. What is Wrong with Men is whip smart and hilarious, an unforgettable condemnation of patriarchy, and the cultural, economic, and political institutions that uphold it." -- Tanya Pearson, author of Pretend We're Dead: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Women in Rock in the 90s
Dewey Edition23/eng/20240911
Dewey Decimal791.43/65211
Table Of ContentIntroduction ix PART ONE: MICHAEL DOUGLAS AND WOMEN Fatal Attraction: Caught in the Crossfire of the Mommy Wars 14 War of the Roses: Court-Mandated Fatherhood 31 Basic Instinct: What If We Just Got Rid of All the Men? 49 PART TWO: THE ECONOMIC ACTOR Wall Street: A New Economy, and a New Masculinity, Emerges 73 Falling Down: The Aspirational Mass Shooter 89 PART THREE: A WHITE MAN IN A BROWN WORLD Black Rain: America Hits Its Midlife Crisis 113 The American President: Finding Meaning in the Drone Bomb 130 PART FOUR: THE PATRIARCH FALLS Disclosure: Please Report to Human Resources 155 The Game: Bringing Patriarchs Back to Life 171 PART FIVE: WELCOME TO THE POSTPATRIARCHY Teaching Michael Douglas to Love: Age Gaps, Power Imbalances, and Other Heterosexual Indignities 196 Daddy Issues: Father Hunger and the Search for an Heir 211 Speculative Masculinity: The Rise of the Masculinity Influencer 225 Conclusion: Imagining a Post-Michael Douglas World 241 Selected Bibliography 249
SynopsisA hilarious, ambitious work of trenchant cultural criticism that traces the origins of today's crisis of masculinity through . . . Michael Douglas's oeuvre from the eighties and nineties How to be a Man? That question--and all the anxiety, anger, and resentment it stirs up--is the starting point for a crisis in masculinity that today manifests as misogyny, nativism, and corporate greed; gives rise to incels and mass shooters; and leads to panic over the rights of women and minorities. According to Jessa Crispin, it is the most important question of our time, and the answer to it might be found in an unlikely place: the films of Michael Douglas. In the 1980s, the rules for masculinity began to change. The goal was no longer to be a good, respectable family man, carrying on the patriarchal traditions of generations past. Not only was it becoming unfashionable, but increasingly difficult: the economic and political shifts--a slashed social safety net, globalization--made it harder to find a breadwinning income, a stable home life, and a secure place in the public sphere. So, then, how to be a man? From the early eighties to the late nineties, Michael Douglas showed us how: he was our president, our Wall Street overlord, our mass shooter, our failed husband, our midlife crisis, our cop, and our canary in the patriarchal coal mine. His characters were a mirror of our cultural shift, serving as the foundation for everything from the 1994 Crime Bill to Trump's ultimate rise. With wry wit and wisdom, Crispin examines the phenomenon of the Michael Douglas character as a silver-screen seismograph registering the tectonic movements within our society that have fractured it in shocking ways. Blending feminist arguments and pop culture criticism, Crispin uses the iconic roles of Michael Douglas, from Fatal Attraction to Wall Street to The Game , as a lens to explore men's and our culture's ongoing anxieties around women, money, and power. Ultimately, What Is Wrong with Men reveals that the patriarchy has now fully betrayed men, along with everyone else and shows how unpacking one of its most fervent icons can help us envision a pathway forward.
LC Classification NumberHQ1090.C75 2025
