Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy - Tapa blanda

"Allan Johnson has written one of the best, most readable, and most comprehensive accounts of patriarchy that is available in print and this revised edition makes this important book even more useful and relevant." -Paula Rothenberg, editor, Race, Class, and Gender in the United States "A powerful approach to gender inequality that empowers both men and women to be part of the solution instead of just part of the problem. The Gender Knot belongs on the reading list of every course in sexual politics that encourages students to engage (if not 'smash') patriarchy meaningfully." -Men and Masculinities "As any knitter will tell you, the way to untangle a knot is not to pull hard on one end, but gently shake the entire skein until all the threads are loosened. In this book, Allan Johnson gently and patiently shakes the patriarchal knot until each of the constituent threads becomes analytically clear. In doing so, he gives men a way to be part of unraveling that oppressive knot, rather than simply tugging defensively on their end." -Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America: A Cultural History "This is a good book. Why is it good? It's well written, well argued, and nails all the key issues right on the head. It's the best book I've seen in this genre." -Michael Schwalbe, author of Unlocking the Iron Cage: The Men's Movement, Gender Politics, and American Culture "[A] brilliant account of patriarchy." -Off Our Backs "I love Johnson's book. It is beautifully written and thoughtful, and provides compelling analyses of patriarchy and the powerful ideology that supports it and inhibits change... it is a guidebook for a life-changing adventure." -Contemporary Sociology "...a unique book that fills a void in the literature on gender. Highly accessible and a pleasure to read, Johnson never oversimplifies the complex issues he explores. His engaging, conversational style will appeal to a wide audience and will be particularly useful for the classroom." - Gender and Society

We are all living deep inside an oppressive gender legacy called patriarchy. On some level, most people know that gender is tied to a great deal of suffering an injustice, from inequality in the workplace to violence and sexual harassment to the conflict between work and family roles. Millions of women are weary from the struggle simply to hang on to what's been gained, and many well-intentioned men do nothing because they can't see how to acknowledge what's going on without inviting guilt and blame simply for being men. The result is a knotted tangle to fear, anger, blame, defensiveness, guilt, pain, denial, ambivalence, and confusion. The more we pull at it, the tighter it gets. Unraveling the knot begins with getting clear about what patriarchy really is, about what it's got to do with each of us, and about how both men and women can see themselves as part of the process of change toward something better. Based on more than twenty years of work on gender issues, The Gender Knot charts a course organized around three questions: What are we participating in and how are we choosing to participate in it? How do typical ways of thinking about gender blind us to what's going on? What can men and women do to make a difference? Johnson writes as a man passionately committed to the belief that oppression is not an inevitable feature of human life, and that each of us makes it matter more than we can ever know. He offers a practical, compassionate, and readable guide to understanding what we're stuck in and how to search for a way out.