What About Men?

July 15, 2023
The "Woman Woman" turns her attention to the problems of men, particularly in their youth. Moran is known for her nonfiction books about womanhood and feminism, including How To Be a Woman. Her latest is inspired by the notion, expressed by her teenage daughters' male friends, among other sources, that these days, it's easier to be a woman than a man. "If boys, and men, really feel this--if they observe that there is more discussion, support, cheerleading and belief in girls, and women--then I believe them. You have to believe people when they keep saying the same thing, over and over, more despairingly each time." In chapters with such titles as "The Conversations of Men," "The Cocks and Balls of Men," "The Friendships of Men," "The Oldness of Men," this very funny writer addresses the dearth of discussion and support for men's problems, applying a sympathetic eye, research techniques of the ask-around and Google varieties, and a conventional but still widely applicable model of gender. For example, men are apparently afraid to talk in detail about their penises, which is why "only 25 percent of men with erectile dysfunction seek medical treatment. Four in ten cases of prostate cancer are only detected when they reach stage three or four. Thirty percent of men are unhappy about the size of their penises." Maybe this wouldn't happen if they had learned to actually converse instead of banter and boast. Moran wants to put an end to the silence that surrounds boys' often traumatizing experiences with pornography, and she has sharp words for Neil Strauss, Jordan B. Peterson, and Andrew Tate. If you don't know who those people are, you are not the author's target reader. In fact, it's not completely clear who that might be--boys? girls? parents? men?--and this is reflected in some fluctuations of tone, focus, and interestingness. In the right hands, this book is reassuring, enlightening, and inspiring; in others, it's OK to skim.

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August 1, 2023
During the Q&A part of a book talk, Moran, a British journalist and expert on all things woman (How to Be a Woman, 2011; How to Build a Girl, 2014), was asked: What about men? Momentarily flummoxed, Moran replied with a joke, only to have similar questions pop up at subsequent sessions, including: What advice do you have for mothers raising boys? When Moran did some digging, she was dismayed to find an utter lack of guidance on how to be a man. Hence this offering, a typical Moran-like treatment of an important topic, delivered in brief, chatty chapters that incorporate facts, statistics, interviews, cultural insights, and her usual helpings of ribald observations and saucy but sensible advice. Topics range from "Conversations" and "Clothes" to "Cocks and Balls," and there's a surprisingly sweet laugh-out-loud tribute to "Fatherhood." Insightful nuggets of truth and practical wisdom mix with the snorts and sputters of laughter, making this a worthwhile, enjoyable, and timely read.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 6, 2023
Journalist and feminist Moran (How to Be a Woman) tackles in this provocative outing a question often lobbed at her during speaking events: what about the struggles of the modern male? Though at first flummoxed by why she should care, Moran eventually realized that perhaps there was something to the issue. Marshaling commentary from friends, her husband, and respondents to her social media queries, Moran explores the contours of masculinity in the 21st century, wading into such hot-button topics as alpha male stereotypes, “incel” culture, and the “men’s rights” activism of writers like Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson (to whom young boys have turned “in the absence of... relatable, sound advice coming from the good liberal progressive men of generation”). Elsewhere, she addresses men’s mental health issues, sexuality, and friendships in sharp and funny—if not always rigorous—takes (a discussion of men’s body image anxieties considers the current trend of men’s jeans “so tight that they look sprayed on” and speculates that “if you weren’t wearing trousers that were actively betraying you, a lot of those problems might disappear”). By her own admission, Moran is short on answers; she also has a tendency to lean on stereotypes. Still, she raises plenty of worthwhile questions about “what it is to be a boy and become a man in today’s world,” and does so with genuine curiosity, self-awareness, and humor. This promises to spark conversation.