Masculinity, Bullying, and Aggression


Book Description

Explores the best and worst ways to handle aggression, the facts on bullying and cyberbullying, and how best to handle anger in everyday situations.




Masculinity, Bullying, and Aggression


Book Description

Provides advice for boys and young men about dealing with bullying, cyberbullying, and dealing with emotions nonviolently.




The Man They Wanted Me to Be


Book Description

This provocative, “critically important” memoir of working-class boyhood in rural Indiana offers a searing cultural analysis of toxic masculinity in American culture (NPR). As progressivism changes American society, and globalism shifts labor away from traditional manufacturing, the roles that have been prescribed to men since the Industrial Revolution have been rendered obsolete. Donald Trump's campaign successfully leveraged male resentment and entitlement, and now, with Trump as president and the rise of the #MeToo movement, it’s clear that our current definitions of masculinity are outdated and even dangerous. Deeply personal and thoroughly researched, the author of The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore has turned his keen eye to our current crisis of masculinity using his upbringing in rural Indiana to examine the personal and societal dangers of the patriarchy. The Man They Wanted Me to Be examines how we teach boys what’s expected of men in America, and the long–term effects of that socialization―which include depression, shorter lives, misogyny, and suicide. Sexton turns his keen eye to the establishment of the racist patriarchal structure which has favored white men, and investigates the personal and societal dangers of such outdated definitions of manhood. “ . . . exposes the true cost of toxic masculinity . . . and takes aim at the patriarchal structures in American society that continue to uphold an outdated ideal of manhood.” —Book Riot




The Bully Society


Book Description

Choice's Outstanding Academic Title list for 2013 Through interviews and case studies, Klein develops an explanation for bully behavior in America's schools In today’s schools, kids bullying kids is not an occasional occurrence but rather an everyday reality where children learn early that being sensitive, respectful, and kind earns them no respect. Jessie Klein makes the provocative argument that the rise of school shootings across America, and childhood aggression more broadly, are the consequences of a society that actually promotes aggressive and competitive behavior. The Bully Society is a call to reclaim America’s schools from the vicious cycle of aggression that threatens our children and our society at large. Heartbreaking interviews illuminate how both boys and girls obtain status by acting “masculine”—displaying aggression at one another’s expense as both students and adults police one another to uphold gender stereotypes. Klein shows that the aggressive ritual of gender policing in American culture creates emotional damage that perpetuates violence through revenge, and that this cycle is the main cause of not only the many school shootings that have shocked America, but also related problems in schools, manifesting in high rates of suicide, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-cutting, truancy, and substance abuse. After two decades working in schools as a school social worker and professor, Klein proposes ways to transcend these destructive trends—transforming school bully societies into compassionate communities.




Boys Will Be Boys


Book Description

Miedzian provides a thorough investigation of the numerous factors influencing aggression and violence in American males. In addition, she also provides descriptions and proposals for interventions, social action, and solutions to break the link between masculinity and violence. The book is separated into three major parts: 1) The Problem: The acceptance of violence as a way of life; 2) Toward a Solution: Raising sons for the twenty-first century; 3) Conclusions: Beyond the masculine mystique. Throughout, Miedzian emphasizes that because males have a high potential for aggression and violence, every effort should be made to encourage and model for males those qualities that are counter to violence. She illustrates the large extent to which our culture currently (and historically) encourages qualities and values that increase a male's propensity for violence.




Boys, Young Men and Violence


Book Description

This book draws upon data collected over an 18 year period with over 1000 boys and young men across Northern Ireland. Providing critical reflections on violence, masculinity and education, it uses the voices and experiences of young men to inform and influence research, practice and policy.




CRIMINAL JUSTICE HANDBOOK ON MASCULINITY, MALE AGGRESSION, AND SEXUALITY


Book Description

Criminal Justice Handbook on Masculinity, Male Aggression, and Sexuality discusses masculinity as a social construct, an ideal, and an impediment for males and females. The book explores how the law equalizes, protects, bridles, and enforces masculinity while dealing with crime, which often exploits and exaggerates masculinity. Among the topics addressed are historical and contemporary law, scientific understandings, issues in corrections, military service, the court system, policing, criminal procedure, medicine, and treatment. Because masculinity is often exhibited as a gender role, the book examines aggressive behaviors, emotional responses, interpersonal rules, appearances, sexual desires, and other aspects of human dynamics that may restrict or enhance masculinity. Juveniles are discretely discussed in subsections concerning masturbation, bullying, risk, sexual assault, pornography, and their susceptibility to victimization by peers and adults. Physical differences between males and females are relevant to criminal justice processes and includes bone shape and size, voices, appearance, scent, and genitalia. The male genitalia is thoroughly discussed in the sections dealing with unlawful penetration, male working animals, forensics, sex offenders, frisks and searches, penile injuries, prostheses, obscenity and lewd behavior, transgenderism, and human trafficking. Unique features include: male and female perpetrators of domestic violence, illegal immigration, drug and alcohol trafficking, gangs and gang members, homosexual victims of hate crimes, and the use of steroids. In addition, illustrations are included to clarify specific points. This text will be an excellent resource for careers in correctional education, juvenile justice, criminal justice and male aggression, law enforcement, sociology, and psychiatry.




Challenging Violence in Schools


Book Description

This book explores the relationship between violence and masculinity within schools. There is a clear need to explore this relationship. A substantial amount of evidence exists which demonstrates how boys are the major perpetrators of violence in schools - from extreme acts of violence such as school shootings in the US to more common forms of schoolyard bullying - and that both girls and boys are their victims. The book suggests that violence has been masculinized in such a way that boys often perpetrate violence as a means of demonstrating their perception of what counts as a valued form of masculinity. This masculinization of violence has often meant that girls experience violence from boys who are seeking to demonstrate their superiority over girls, and it has also meant that some boys often experience violence due to their non-conformity to dominant images of masculinity. In order to support these arguments the book draws on extensive interview data collected from boys and teachers who were involved in anti-violence programmes in their schools.




The Tough Standard


Book Description

Men are commonly expected to act "masculine" (e.g., self-sufficient, stoic, strong, dependable, brave, tough, and hard-working) while avoiding stereotypically "feminine" traits (e.g., emotional expressivity, empathy, and nurturance). Few, however, realize that these qualities--when taken to the extreme--can cause emotional constriction, substance abuse, depression, aggression, and violence in many men. Further, even though most men are not violent, decades of research has shown that masculinity is distinctly related to sexual and gun violence and men's poorer health. Considering how girls and women have benefitted from decades of conversations on navigation of their gender in a changing world, similar processes are urgently needed for boys and men. The Tough Standard connects the dots between masculinity and the present moment in American culture (defined by high-profile movements such as Me Too, March for Our Lives, and Black Lives Matter), synthesizes over four decades of research in the psychology of men and masculinities, and proposes solutions to corresponding social problems.




Building a Better Man


Book Description

Building a Better Man presents a theory and science based discussion of masculinity in modern America, but it also does much more than that—it interweaves a diverse group of compelling personal stories with an exploration of aggression and masculinity in the socialization of boys and men. Where other programs tend to subtly denigrate men as perpetrators and focus on stopping the problematic behavior, Building a Better Man tries to understand the external forces that impinge on the developmental experiences of boys/men and broadens the scope of inquiry into their behavior by reviewing a range of external societal forces that contribute to the problems. Clinicians and group leaders will find that the approach laid out in Building a Better Man leaves clients feeling understood more than judged, which provides a different motivation for change and can set treatment on an entirely different and infinitely more productive path.