Recommend intro feminism resources written specifically for men?

July 23, 2016 10:57 AM

I have a brother who needs to learn about feminism. This is important because we have delightful conversations other than when he says things that make me want to shake him until his teeth rattle; he's got some fairly fucked up unconscious assumptions about women. Having dealt with my own unconscious assumptions on many occasions, I've found that I do best with resources that have me as their target audience, especially when the ideas are new. I'd like to give such a resource to my brother--one that is therapeutically gentle/learning oriented with where he's starting as a man, but which also helps him get some of the feminism basics down. I'm not looking for general feminism 101; I'm hoping to find more male-targeted resources. Engaging tone is preferred to academic, but I'll take what I can get.
posted by Alex Haist to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

Have you read We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie? It's written in a conversational tone, and directed at people who are skeptical/not knowledgeable about feminism. It's a very good book and the government of Sweden even decided to distribute a copy to every high school student in the country.
posted by Cybria at 11:11 AM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks was the first book on feminism I read. I found it to be a great introduction.
posted by AaRdVarK at 11:19 AM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro. I read it in first-year university.
posted by My Dad at 11:41 AM on July 23, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm a man; I like bell hooks a lot.
posted by splitpeasoup at 4:15 PM on July 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

I would look for a book that has a catchy, breezy take on why the specific assumptions are surprisingly not true.
posted by michaelh at 6:50 PM on July 23, 2016

There's The Guy’s Guide to Feminism. The introduction is very promising.

“Both of us, both Michael K’s, have had the same conversation over and over with the men we meet. Happens when we visit university campuses. Happens when we’re speaking in a community. Damn, it happens with our own sons.

A guy stands up. Says, “I believe in equality and all that. But it’s been years since women needed feminism.” Another jumps in, “I mean, who actually calls themselves a feminist anymore?” A third says, “And even if they did, we’ve gone beyond all that women battling men thing, haven’t we?”

We’ve each written a bunch of books and we each speak to a ton of men and women every year. But we figured it was high time that we actually answered those questions.”

posted by spamandkimchi at 8:39 PM on July 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, all. I read The Guy's Guide to Feminism and listened to the TED talk of We Should All be Feminists.

The Guy's Guide is a bit of an overview of the issues, but the breezy tone kept up throughout. I might send it my brother's way. bell hooks is next!
posted by Alex Haist at 2:44 PM on August 7, 2016