129 pages

English

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Je m'inscris

Mask Off , livre ebook

Pluto Press - JJ Bola

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Je m'inscris

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129 pages

English

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En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

What is masculinity? Dominating the world around us, with deadly gun violence, male suicide rates and incels on Reddit, masculinity is perceived to be 'toxic', 'fragile' and 'in crisis'.

In Mask Off, JJ Bola exposes masculinity as a performance that men are socially conditioned into. Using examples of non-Western cultural traditions, music and sport, he shines light on historical narratives around manhood, debunking popular myths along the way. He explores how LGBTQ men, men of colour, and male refugees experience masculinity in diverse ways, revealing its fluidity, how it's strengthened and weakened by different political contexts, such as the patriarchy or the far-right, and perceived differently by those around them.

At the heart of love and sex, the political stage, competitive sports, gang culture, and mental health issues, lies masculinity: Mask Off is an urgent call to unravel masculinity and redefine it.

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Mask off: Being a man

1. Real men: Myths of masculinity

2. Gang signs & prayer: Male violence, aggression and mental health

3. What’s love got to do with it?: Love, sex and consent

4. This is a man’s world: The politics of masculinity, the masculinity of politics

5. If I were a boy: Gender equality and feminism

6. See you at the crossroads: Intersections of masculinity

7. It goes down in the DM’s: Masculinity in the age of social media

8. Slamdunk the funk: Masculinity and sport

Conclusion: Man in the mirror: Transgression and transformation

Resources

Sujets

Violence in Society

Men's Studies

Lesbian Studies

Gay Studies

LGBTQ+ Studies

Social Science

LGBTQ+

Sociologie, société et politique

21st century

Informations

Publié par	Pluto Press
Date de parution	20 septembre 2019
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781786805027
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,6250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Mask Off

‘Holds men accountable or the ways in which we beneit rom male privilege, and liberates us rom its violently toxic demands.’

David Lammy, MP

‘JJ Bola knows that we have to ind a new way orward. This book is good or all o us.’ Benjamin Zephaniah

‘An uncompromising, heartelt and completely vital interrogation o this thing we call masculinity. Bubbling with new perspectives and major insights – this is the book about masculinity that we ALL need.’

Jerey Boakye, author oBlack, Listed: Black British Culture Explored

‘Incisive, engaging, powerully vulnerable, JJ Bola has given us an urgent and compelling examination o one o society’s most pressing subjects.’

Musa Okwonga

Outspoken Series Editor: Neda Tehrani

Platorming underrepresented voices; intervening in important political issues; revealing powerul histories and giving voice to our experiences; Outspoken is a series unlike any other. Unravelling debates on sex education, masculinity, eminism, mental health, and class and inequality, Outspoken has the answers to the questions you’re asking. These are books that dissent.

Also available:

Behind Closed Doors Sex Education Transformed Natalie Fiennes

Feminism, Interrupted Disrupting Power Lola Oluemi

Split Class Divides Uncovered Ben Tippet

MaskOff

Masculinity Redefined

JJ Bola

First published 2019 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA

www.plutobooks.com

The right o JJ Bola to be identiied as the author o this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record or this book is available rom the British Library

ISBN ISBN ISBN ISBN

978 0 7453 3874 3 978 1 7868 0502 7 978 1 7868 0504 1 978 1 7868 0503 4

Paperback PDF eBook Kindle eBook EPUB eBook

This book is printed on paper suitable or recycling and made rom ully managed and sustained orest sources. Logging, pulping and manuacturing processes are expected to conorm to the environmental standards o the country o origin.

Typeset by Stanord DTP Services, Northampton, England

Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States o America

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Mask o: Being a man 1 1. Real men: Myths o masculinity 10 2. Gang signs & prayer: Male violence, aggression and mental health 22 3. What’s love got to do with it?: Love, sex and consent 39 4. This is a man’s world: The politics o masculinity, the masculinity o politics 53 5. I I were a boy: Gender equality and eminism 63 6. See you at the crossroads: Intersections o masculinity 72 7. It goes down in the DM’s: Masculinity in the age o social media 86 8. Slamdunk the unk: Masculinity and sport 96 Conclusion: Man in the mirror: Transgression and transormation 108

Resources

119

Acknowledgements

An acknowledgement and thanks to the Society o Authors or the grant award in support o me writing this book. For more inormation, please visit www.societyoauthors.org. Thanks also to the 8 club by the Young Vic Theatre –the source o the testimonies used throughout the book. For more inormation, please visit: www.youtube.com/user/ YoungVicLondon.

Introduction

Maskoff:Beingaman

One sunny Saturday aternoon during my teenage years, beore touch screen and selies, beore 4G, beore social media had permeated every aspect o our being, I was walking through the vibrant, oten tumultuous, multicultural, dynamic Tottenham High Road in North London. I was with a large group with about ten, o my ‘uncles’. They weren’t really my uncles. They were not blood relatives, but the men who made up the Congolese community I had grown up in. On Saturdays, as part o their church group, they ran activities or young people in the community, which included the brass band music and other cultural activities. Ater attending one o these Saturday sessions, I was invited or ood at one uncle’s house who lived locally, just o the high street. My excitement could not be contained. It was an unexpected treat opondu, makemba, mikateandntaba(stew, plantain, doughnut balls also known as pu pu, and grilled goat) – truly a privilege. We walked along the high street making our way to the house, chatting excitedly. I was noticeably the only teenager in the group, dressed in my tracksuit bottoms, hooded jumper and Nike Air Force 1 trainers. They were mostly dressed in the unique ashion o Congolese men: high-waisted jeans, colourul t-shirts itted tight to unathletic, pot-belly type bodies, designer brands and eccentric designs.

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MASK OFF

As we walked, I began to eel very sel-conscious and increas-ingly aware o the group I was with. Although I was very amiliar with Tottenham – I spent a lot o time there as a teenager and had walked the same streets oten, though with an entirely dierent group and a dierent purpose – I elt sel-conscious because we were attracting a lot o attention, not just as a large group, but as a large group o eccentrically dressed men o Arican descent speaking loudly in Lingala. I also saw lots o other teenagers. Some began staring, pointing, and even laughing in the distance. I was certain some o them recognised me as I tried to hide by putting my hood up. In hindsight, this probably had the opposite eect. We continued to walk through as a group, now split up in pairs or in threes, each holding their separate conversations. I walked with my uncle, holding hands. This is perectly normal in Congolese/Francophone Arican culture, and I would later learn, in many other cultures around the world too. It is a way or men to bond and show ainity, as well as aection towards each other. This is the culture I had grown up in. I had oten watched my ather holding hands while speaking with other men in the community, or as they walked. It was normal, and in those situations I did not think twice o it. However, outside o the cultural norms o this group, it took on an alien and embar-rassing quality. Much to my relie, we turned o the high road, and walked towards the housing estate where the uncle who was hosting us lived. I had been to his house many times beore. I wanted to run there on my own, ahead o the uncles, and wait there or them but the burden o explaining this behaviour would last with me much longer than I wanted or needed it too. I was breathing a bit more relaxed and reely, though still walking hand in hand with my uncle. We were no longer in the

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INTRODUCTION: MASK OFF: BEING A MAN

direct gaze o all o those people on the street, particularly the teenagers. As we turned onto the estate where my uncle lived, with a renewed sense o vigour and boisterousness, a group o teenagers who were hanging out on the estate noticed us. They watched us; their eyes ocussing on me and the uncle I walked hand in hand with. I could see their aces portraying a range o negative expressions, everything rom conusion to disgust. I had seen those youths on the estate beore. Sometimes I’d even given them the subtle head-nod, an in-group greeting that comes with respect and acceptance. On these estates – and every estate, inner-city area, hood, ghetto, ends, slums, whatever the moniker – respect is all about how strong you are, or at least, how strong you are perceived to be. I had participated in this açade long enough to be granted respect. I was tall and athletic looking. Having had an early introduction to press ups and weights, I appeared just intimidating enough. All o this respect earned quickly dissipated beore my very eyes, as I was seen walking hand in hand with another man. I wanted to put my hood back on and bury my ace but it was too late, I had already been seen. I quickly removed my hands rom my uncles, pretending to reach or something in my pocket, which he seemed non-ussed about; another utile act. ‘Yo, big man?’ I heard a voice call over. I knew he was talking to me and no one else. I looked over. His eyes punched through my chest. I elt my legs shake as i my knees would buckle at any given step. He had his hood up over his head, and wore the grey Nike tracksuit and hoodie that was envied by all. ‘You holding hands, yeah?’ he said, and the crew around him chuckled, and exploded with laughter. I can still remember the pain; the sting in my heart. It is the same eeling rom when spicy ood goes rom tasty to too hot to bear, and it makes you wish things could return to normal.

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