The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love

This is my introduction to Bell Hooks and I’m sad I’ve not engaged with her work earlier. She has a very clear pithy way of communicating ideas and I thoroughly resonate with her position of change arising from love and understanding (with love including the importance of holding people accountable). Perhaps I’m to rigid and new to the writing of theorists but as a scientist I do find it disconcerting when there isn’t a reference list. There were some key statements throughout that make claim to something that is feasibly researched but that she doesn’t cite anything. I have read a good deal of psychology literature so knew many of her claims to be true, but others I was interested by and they did not accompany a reference and it is hard to know what she is basing these claims on? Her previous body of writing? Experiences talking to many women? Or has she just read research so widely she knows this as a basic truth? Either way, it left me wishing for a bit more rigour to underpin her worthwhile thoughts and theory. I wonder perhaps if with this being a later work of hers, she no longer feels the need to establish key ideas she has already thoroughly broached in other books and so I’m a little “out of order” if one considers that valid manner to consume a thinkers literary body.

For most of my life, I learned and was taught about feminism. The only masculinity I ever knew about was toxic masculinity. It was refreshing to read a book about masculinity. This book is a journey that emphasizes the need to love masculinity and men. The book is fairly simple to read and understand. In fact, I had a lot of people ask me what book I’m reading and as I talked about why I’m reading it, other males were intrigued. This was my first bell hooks book that I have ever read and I’m happy it was my first. The content I read is going to help me further reach full freedom. I would recommend it to any male but also any females who are trapped under patriarchy. There’s no bibliography.

There's a lot here that I have direct experience with or is adjacent to my experiences, and the cutting descriptions help crystallise my thoughts on masculinities and the issues around them, and how it relates to feminism. Well worth reading, particularly if you're struggling with your own masculinity. Sometimes it felt a little vague or hopeful without focus, which is probably useful for some people, but seemed a distraction to me.