Is There a Cure for Masculinity?

Book excerpt: Barely a day goes by without a story of a man involved in illicit or illegal behaviour-from sex to violence or financial corruption. Regardless of their circumstances, these men all have one thing in common: their masculinity. In this powerful book Adam Jukes combines theory with compelling case studies to reveal why men behave the way they do. Quite the opposite of an innate condition, he argues, masculinity is more like an illness acquired in early boyhood. It is built on a `fault' created during the Oedipal crisis. On one side of the fault is the penis, a symbol of potency, activity, independence and strength. On the other side is a rejected `femininity' identified with dependency, passivity, vulnerability and emotionality. As a result, much of male behaviour-the quest for status and power, chronic sulking, excessive masturbation, workaholism, the use of pornography, sexual perversion, infidelity, risk taking and violent abuse-is a paradoxical defence against men's overwhelming feelings of weakness, vulnerability and humiliation. The cure, if there is one, starts with what jukes calls the `mad hypothesis'-an acceptance that men are responsible for everything that is wrong in their relationships and their lives. If they start here, Jukes argues, and gain insight into their original `fault' through therapy, relief from masculinity is possible for everyone.