What is wrong with men : patriarchy, the crisis of masculinity, and how (of course) Michael Douglas films explain everything / Jessa Crispin.
| Author/creator | Crispin, Jessa author. |
| Format | Book |
| Edition | First hardcover edition. |
| Publication | New York, NY : Pantheon Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2025. |
| Copyright Date | ©2025 |
| Description | xxvii, 253 pages ; 22 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Introduction -- Part one : Michael Douglas and women. Fatal Attraction: Caught in the crossfire of the mommy wars ; War of the Roses: Court-mandated fatherhood ; Basic Instinct: What if we just got rid of all the men? -- Part two : The economic actor. Wall Street: A new economy, and a new masculinity, emerges ; Falling Down: The aspirational mass shooter -- Part three : A white man in a brown world. Black Rain: America hits its midlife crisis ; The American President: Finding meaning in the drone bomb -- Part four : The patriarch falls. Disclosure: Please report to human resources ; The Game: Bringing patriarchs back to life -- Part five : Welcome to the postpatriarchy. Teaching Michael Douglas to love: Age gaps, power imbalances, and other heterosexual indignities ; Daddy issues: Father hunger and the search for an heir ; Speculative masculinity: The rise of the masculinity influencer ; Conclusion: Imagining a post-Michael Douglas world. |
| Abstract | "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; incels and mass shooters; and panic over the rights of women and minorities. According to Jessa Crispin, creator of the celebrated blog BookSlut, 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 "Douglas character" as a silver-screen seismograph registering the tectonic movements within our society that have fractured it in shocking ways. From "Fatal Attraction" to "Wall Street" to "The Game," WHAT IS WRONG WITH MEN investigates how Michael Douglas's box office domination illustrates the dark hearts of masculinity's crisis. Blending feminist arguments and pop culture criticism, Crispin uses the iconic roles of Michael Douglas as a lens to explore men's and our culture's ongoing anxieties around women, money, and power. Ultimately, revealing that the patriarchy has now fully betrayed men, along with everyone else-and how unpacking one of its most fervent icons can help us envision a pathway forward"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references. |
| Issued in other form | Online version: Crispin, Jessa. What is wrong with men First edition. New York : Pantheon, [2025] 9780593317631 |
| Genre/form | Film criticism. |
| LCCN | 2024032096 |
| ISBN | 9780593317624 hardcover |
| ISBN | 0593317629 hardcover |
| ISBN | paperback |
| ISBN | paperback |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joyner | General Stacks | HQ1090 .C75 2025 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |