Hello comrades, it’s time for our third discussion thread for The Will to Change, covering Chapters 6 (Work: What’s Love Got To Do With It?) and 7 (Feminist Manhood). Thanks to everyone who participated the last few weeks, I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts again. And if you’re just joining the book club this week, welcome!
Chapter 6 discusses the role of work under patriarchy and how capitalism forces men and women alike to not only work long hours to survive, but to prioritize supporting themselves and their families financially over any sort of healing and growing. Chapter 7 delves into how men can apply feminist thought practically to support the well-being of themselves and the people around them.
If you haven’t read the book yet but would like to, its available free on the Internet Archive in text form, as well as an audiobook on Youtube with content warnings at the start of each chapter, courtesy of the Anarchist Audio Library, and as an audiobook on our very own TankieTube! (note: the YT version is missing the Preface but the Tankietube version has it)
As always let me know if you’d like to be added to the ping list!
Our next discussion will be on Chapters 8 (Popular Culture: Media Masculinity) and 9 (Healing Male Spirit), beginning on 12/25. That thread will likely stay up a little longer than usual as I’m sure many people will be busy around the end of the year and I want to give everyone the opportunity to share their thoughts.
(first time seeing this and now playing catch-up from the first chapter)
Oof. I have experienced this from my family (brothers and mom) so many times throughout my childhood, teens, and early adulthood and probably still would if I still talked to them.
I would talk about my pain and the response was to defend women, which, if I were attacking women, would be perfectly appropriate. But I wasn’t attacking women, I was expressing my pain. That pain was never heard and was instead invalidated as an attack on women.