The University of Wisconsin Press
Cultural Studies / Rhetoric & Linguistics / Gender & Sexuality / Sociology
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Studs,
Tools, and the Family Jewels These metaphors men live by, Murphy contends, reinforce the view that relationships are tactical encounters that must be won, because the alternative is the loss of manhood. The macho language with which men cover their fear of weakness is a way of bonding with other men. The implicit or explicit attacks on women and gay men that underlie this language translate, in their most extreme forms, into actual violence. Murphy also believes, however, that awareness of these metaphorical power plays is the basis for behavioral change: "How we talk about ourselves as men can alter the way we live as men." "In this brave and provocative book, Peter F. Murphy looks inside the metaphors of masculinity to reveal that sexual slang is more about fear than power, more about distrust than control, more about softness than hardness. Our language, our bodies, our selves—a paper-thin veneer that masquerades as cold, hard steel."—Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America "Murphy
reveals much about the heterosexual/masculine assumptions that
all of us contend with on a daily basis. This book has the potential
to make us, both men and women, rethink our beliefs and change
the way we configure our language and relationships."—James
D. Armstrong, editor of Distant Mirrors: America as a Foreign
Culture
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April
2001
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