About the Book
What if the biggest conspiracy in human history had gone completely unnoticed?
What if that conspiracy was responsible for some of the biggest problems the world faces today?
Wouldn’t you want to know? Wouldn’t you want to do something about it?
Well guess what: You can.
The Masculinity Conspiracy is a free online book about masculinity. It argues that nearly every assumption about masculinity in contemporary society is wrong. The result is nothing short of exposing a worldwide conspiracy that has been preventing humanity from reaching its fullest potential.
**Print ($12.95) and Kindle ($4.99) editions now available**
About the Author
Dr Joseph Gelfer is a masculinities researcher in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University, Australia. He is author of Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy and editor of Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality. His anthology, 2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse has been published just in time for the end days.
Men and Meaning
The start of a new project I’m developing with Laki Sideris: Men and Meaning is a photographic and textual exploration of how men go about constructing meaning in their daily experiences. This meaning-making journey unfolds on two primary levels: what it means to be a man and perform masculinity, and more generally how the subjects derive meaning from the world around them. The images are a mixture of the staged and the documentary, the text a mixture of the biographical and the imagined.
Festival talks
If you’re in Australia and are interested in hearing about The Masculinity Conspiracy in person, I’ll be talking at two upcoming festivals:
- Rainbow Serpent Festival, 28 January, 2-3:30 pm in the Inner Realm Workshop Space (Lifestyle Village)
- Sustainable Living Festival, tentatively scheduled for 19 February, 11.15 am
Chapter 8 (Conclusion) now online
Chapter 8 (Conclusion) of The Masculinity Conspiracy is now online.
This final chapter revisits some of the main ways that the conspiracy manifests, but more importantly examines how and why it happens, as well as revealing what ultimately lies behind the conspiracy.
If you don’t like reading online, print ($12.95) and Kindle ($4.99) editions of the book are also now available.
Happy reading!
Chapter 7 now online
Chapter 7 (Spirituality) of The Masculinity Conspiracy is now online.
This chapter examines how spirituality is mobilized in the conspiracy via two books: No More Christian Nice Guy: When Being Nice—Instead of Good—Hurts Men, Women and Children by Paul Coughlin, and The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine by Matthew Fox.
It shows how these books promote masculine spirituality as being defined by fixed characteristics.
It then offers some different ways of thinking about spirituality in order to counter the conspiracy.
Chapter 6 now online
Chapter 6 (Archetypes) of The Masculinity Conspiracy is now online.
This chapter examines how archetypes are mobilized in the conspiracy via two books: Iron John: A Book About Men by Robert Bly, and King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette.
It shows how these books promote archetypes as being defined by fixed characteristics.
It then offers some different ways of thinking about archetypes in order to counter the conspiracy.
Chapter 5 now online
Chapter 5 (Fatherhood) of The Masculinity Conspiracy is now online.
This chapter examines how the theme of fatherhood is mobilized in the conspiracy via two books: Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys by Stephen James and David Thomas, and Better Dads, Stronger Sons: How Fathers Can Guide Boys to Become Men of Character by Rick Johnson.
It shows how these books promote fatherhood as being defined by fixed characteristics.
It then offers some different ways of thinking about fatherhood in order to counter the conspiracy.
Chapter 4 now online
Chapter 4 (Relationships) of The Masculinity Conspiracy is now online.
This chapter examines how the theme of relationships is mobilized in the conspiracy via two books: Double Your Dating: What Every Man Should Know About How to Be Successful with Women by David DeAngelo and Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus: A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Relationships by John Gray.
It shows how these books promote masculine relationships of fixed characteristics.
It then offers some different ways of thinking about masculine relationships in order to counter the conspiracy.
Chapter 3 now online
Chapter 3 (Sexuality) of The Masculinity Conspiracy is now online.
This chapter examines how the theme of sexuality is mobilized in the conspiracy via two books: Earth Honoring: The New Male Sexuality by Robert Lawlor and The Way of the Superior Man: A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Women, Work and Sexual Desire by David Deida.
It shows how these books promote a masculine sexuality of fixed characteristics.
It then offers some different ways of thinking about masculine sexuality in order to counter the conspiracy.
Chapter 2 now online
Chapter 2 (History) of The Masculinity Conspiracy is now online.
This chapter examines how the theme of history is mobilized in the conspiracy via two books: Manliness by Harvey Mansfield, and Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution by Ken Wilber.
I show how these books promote a masculinity of fixed characteristics that is biologically determined and bound by history.
I then offer some different ways of thinking about masculinity and history in order to counter the conspiracy.
