The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity

by Stephen J. Ducat

Book Overview

In this landmark exploration of how male anxiety has come to define our political culture, Stephen J. Ducat shows the link between the desperate macho strutting of male politicians, the gender gap in voting behavior, and fundamentalist holy wars. He argues that a direct association exists between the magnitude of a man's femiphobia-that is, his terror of being perceived as feminine-and his tendency to embrace right-wing political opinions.

From...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807043451
• ISBN13: 9780807043455
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Explaining the Macho Attitude

I enjoyed this book and learned so much that I bought copies to give to friends. I wondered where these macho fixations came from (especially in the Republican Party) and now I have a better understanding of their origins. I think it is must read.....even more so in this important political year.

Tough guy theater.

While U.S. citizens like to think that they are residing in the "home of the brave," the truth is we're a very frightened population. The constant warnings that one country or another is a threat to our existence, the hysteria over immigrants, the endless stream of cop shows; it all serves to frighten the people of our military empire. That's where the tough guy marketing of Bush comes in, he was sold to the voting public (which skews heavily toward wealthier people, with 100 million mostly poorer people not voting or not even registered to vote) as the sort of strong man who would protect us, while keeping us in denial about the terror we bring to other human beings in the world Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians. In place of the corporate uniform, we would see Bush dress up with a cowboy hat, sporting a large belt buckle, clearing brush on his ranch (which was purchased as a prop shortly before the 2000 election), and crawling into an oversized gas-guzzling pick-up truck. Yee Haw! Meanwhile, our military is in the Middle East once again killing tribal people in a continuation of the Indian Wars. Oddly, another part of the marketing of Bush as a macho man was the regular rhetorical question (from right-wing PR agents like Sean Hannity), "wouldn't you rather drink a beer with Bush than Kerry?" Well, considering that Bush is a recovering alcoholic, "no." Wilhelm Reich's The Mass Psychology of Fascism touches on some of the themes of "The Wimp Factor." Anarchist philosophers also expose the idolatry of authority and manipulations of religiosity and sexism that "leaders" have been employing since the beginning of empire. In Christianity and Patriotism, Leo Tolstoy wrote that "every government explains its existence and justifies all its violence on the ground that if it were not there things would be worse" (sound familiar?). People interested in issues of authoritarianism may want to explore the works of thinkers like Rudolf Rocker An Anarchist Rabbi: The Life and Teachings of Rudolf Rocker, Emma Goldman Emma Goldman: American Individualist (Library of American Biography Series) (2nd Edition) (Library of American Biography) and Alexander Berkman Life of an Anarchist: The Alexander Berkman Reader, 2nd Edition. Scared people will applaud, or at least submit to, the "strong" man. The best way to discover courage and find our own authentic identities is to undertake a course in intellectual self-defense. Ducat's book is an important contribution, and I'd also recommend Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (the companion book to the award winning film). "The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery. Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where o

Must Read for anyone interested in politics and gender

When watching staged newscasts of politicians strutting around in military regalia and lugging carcasses through the woods, do you ever get the feeling that there's some, well, compensation going on? In _The Wimp Factor_, Ducat analyzes how our culture's interpretation of gender interacts with politics and political discourse from a psychological perspective. Ducat hypothesizes that since men must continuously prove themselves masculine to be accepted as such, they develop an unconcious fear of feminine "contamination," femiphobia, which spills over into the political arena. Each chapter looks at a different example of the gendering of politics, such as how Bill and Hillary Clinton's images changed before and after the Lewinsky scandal and how gendered language shapes voter perceptions of issue politics. The result is a very interesting and accessible book that contains scathing analysis with a witty sense of humor. Ducat focuses on men and masculinity, which leaves short shift for some other aspects of the topic and can leave the impression that he is being oversimplistic. For example, the section on the psychology of right-wing women was disappointingly brief. However, despite some out of context quotes lifted by other reviewers, Ducat does not essentialize all women as good and all men as evil, nor does he pretend that gender is the only factor at work in politics. He simply stays within the bounds of his topic. The biggest criticism I have is that the Freud-speak does become tiresome after a while (unless you happen to be a die-hard Freudian, I guess).

it seems to have pushed some buttons

This was a good book, interesting theories, definitely of the psychoanalytical school of thought. More interesting however, how any critisim of Bush illicits such rabid and fanatical shrieks of defensive denial and "liberal", which has some how been corrupted into the equivalent of "communist". Claiming to be dis- crediting his analysis without providing sources is essentially meaningless as Mr. Ducat DOES have sources to back up his claims. Screaming the loudest does not make it so!

Timely and Erudite

This book is an amazing tour de force of the political and psychological landscape in America today. From George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" while adorned in a flight suit to John Kerry tramping through the Michigan woods in a camoflague jacket totting a shotgun, the "politics of anxious masculinity," as Stephen Ducat calls the phenomenon, couldn't be more pervasive. Ducat's scholarship shines throughout this erudite, entertaining look at what passes for masculinity in our media-driven culture, surpassed only by his wit and sense of humor. While Freud might have asked, "What do women want?", Ducat's prescient analysis of who men mistakenly think thery are is likely to remain relevant long after late December, when this crazy election is likely to be settled, for better or (W)orse. Scott Lines, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist Berkeley, CA