Performing American Masculinities

"This overview of turn-of-the-millennium sexual identities examines the contradictions and instabilities inherent in latter-day American masculinity as evidenced in pop culture. Watson (history, African American studies, and gender studies, East Tennessee State Univ.) and Shaw (theater arts, Hartwick College) have assembled nine timely essays that cover a range of cultural touchstones and phenomena. The Geico cavemen in the insurance company's ads, Dr. McDreamy from Grey's Anatomy, the sitcom Seinfeld, O. J. Simpson, metrosexuals, and Barack Obama all receive extended and thoughtful critiques. The volume touches on age-old barometers of masculine identity—including film, advertising, capitalism, and presidential campaigns—but also highlights more typically 21st-century indicators and influences, for example, viral videos and reality television dating shows. By stressing masculinity's flexibility and ephemerality, the collection succeeds in puncturing what one author describes as 'the inflated notions of sexuality and the "true self."' A fine contribution to contemporary gender criticism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. —Choice"

~W. Edwards, Longwood University

"This overview of turn-of-the-millennium sexual identities examines the contradictions and instabilities inherent in latter-day American masculinity as evidenced in pop culture. ... A fine contribution to contemporary gender criticism. ...Highly recommended.October 2011"

~Choice

"Into this [cultural studies] minefield, 'Performing American Masculinities' steps and, given its expansive scope of inquiry (ranging from Seinfeld [NBC, 1989–1998] to Obama), attempts to cover a lot of ground. An admirable . . . ambition to map representational through-lines across textual forms and to address both fictional performances and real embodiments of American masculinity . . . .Fall 2013"

~Cinema Journal

"Performing American Masculinities is a good introductory text for studying depictions of masculinities in popular culture. The information and analysis presented in the book are accessible to an interdisciplinary audience . . .17.1 April 2014"

~Men and Masculinities

"With a judicious balance between gender theory and pop-cultural readings, Performing American Masculinities offers a diverse and exciting collection suited to a variety of disciplines and projects. The text provides a cogent introduction to masculinities and a specialized focus that marks the potential of masculinity studies through popular culture. RICKI LAKE SHOW"

~Journal of Popular Culture

"Shaw and Watson have assembled a collection in which well-known cultural artifacts—the OJ trial Seinfeld, metrosexuality and Barack Obama, among others—are reconsidered in the light of gender studies. The result is fresh and bold, enabling us to see these events and images in a new light."

~Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America

"Performing American Masculinities focuses usefully on a range of specific anxieties related to masculinity, including those created by differences of race and sexuality, as well as of non-normative gender subjectivities."

~David Buchbinder, Curtin University of Technology