MADreads

Where the guys are

January 2nd, 2009 Katie H.

Every so often, newspapers and television reports will break stories revealing shocking hazing at college fraternities or reports of sexual assults on campus, prompting outrage, questions and calls for reform.  On a lesser level, parents worry about ‘hookup’ cultures among college-aged men, or shake their heads in disbelief when confronted with the amount of time their sons spend playing video games instead of attending classes.  The final straw comes as college educated men return to their childhood homes, much to their parents’ disbelief.  In all these cases, a common refrain emerges: What is wrong with these guys? 

The answer, writes SUNY-Stony Brook sociologist Micheal Kimmel, lies in the little understood world of Guyland.  Guyland, Kimmel writes, is a homosocial culture that men in their late teens and early twenties create in an effort to transition into the responsibilities of manhood.  Advocates consider it a rite of passage, but Kimmel points out that Guyland’s culture of silence and conformity helps nurture cruel behavior, foster debasing images of women, promote violence, and leads to just plain stupidity. 

Why the bizarre behavior from seemingly intelligent, well-adjusted young men?  As Kimmel writes, much of Guy behavior is driven by insecurity:  other men are perceived as having more sex, able to tolerate more alcohol or simply having more fun then most, pushing men to chase a non-existant pacesetter.  And much has to do with a sense of entitlement: as women and minorities have made strides in both education and employment, Guyland offers a spot where guys (whom Kimmel’s reveal are almost always white) are insulated from political correctness, challenges from women and the repercussions of violence that seem to threaten their particular definition of maleness.  It blithely divides the world into a dichotomy of those who play along with Guys rules versus those who don’t (and therefore don’t matter in Guyland).  While most guys grow out of the stage without any lingering negatives, the fact that the darkest aspects of Guyland occur at all means that more men (and other college groups) need to put aside the ‘boys will be boys’ attitude and find the courage to speak out against abusive cultures. 

Kimmel, a specialist in gender studies, conducted scores of interviews with young men, college administrators, coaches and young women in his research for Guyland, and he presents an engaging and readable argument.  But there’s also plenty to argue with here as well.  I believe Kimmel’s book tends to present Guyland’s lifestyle as the only option for college men, a fact made more noticeable by the lack of any perspective as to how many men actually succumb to the worst excesses of loutish behavior.  And Kimmel never fully addresses how so many men can navigate the same school environment and avoid such problems.  But like a lot of other books that try to decipher the peculiar behavior of the sexes, the appeal is as much in sparking conversation or following up footnotes as it is in reading.  In that respect, Guyland is an accessible road map into the strange territory of the American Guy.

Entry Filed under: Nonfiction