Challenging Myths of Masculinity

Lee F. Monaghan is currently Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He is the author of Bodybuilding, Drugs and Risk and Men and the War on Obesity: A Sociological Study. He is the co-editor of Key Concepts in Medical Sociology and Debating Obesity: Critical Perspectives. Michael Atkinson is Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art, Deconstructing Men and Masculinities and co-editor of Boys’ Bodies: Speaking the Unspoken.

'From bouncers to cosmetic surgery patients to schoolboys in gym class, Challenging Myths of Masculinity addresses contemporary masculinities through an examination of the lived experiences of men and boys. In a time when many perceptions about masculinity remain anecdotal, this book questions many of these received ideas and asks the reader to reconsider practices that are too often dismissed as deficient masculinity. This book is essential reading for anyone who wishes to reconsider contemporary masculinities.' Niall Richardson, University of Sussex, UK 'By exploring the myths of masculinity, Monaghan and Atkinson are able to challenge many taken for granted assumptions that predominate within Western society about the existence of real or authentic forms of masculine expression. Their book provides a welcome contribution to a growing literature that seeks to provide counter-arguments and resistance to uncritical thinking about ways of gendered being.' Ian Wellard, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK 'Monaghan and Atkinson have long been at the forefront of masculinities research. Once again they have justified their standing with this book, which synthesises the major issues associated with men, masculinities and the body into one coherent text. It is certainly a must read for any academic, researcher, or interested person in men and the body. Well done to the authors.' Murray Drummond, Flinders University, Australia

• Introduction From Myths to Empirically Grounded Understandings: Researching Men’s and Boys’ Physical Cultures; Chapter 1 ‘Postmodern’ Muscle: The Embodied Pleasures of Vibrant Physicality, Lee F. Monaghan; Chapter 2 Cosmetic Surgery: Men Who Walk/Erase the Gender Line, Michael Atkinson; Chapter 3 Burly ‘Bouncers’, Cardboard Cutouts and Physical Violence: An Ethnography of Nightclub Security Work, Lee F. Monaghan; Chapter 4 Masculinity on the Menu: Body Slimming and Self-Starvation as Physical Culture, Michael Atkinson; Chapter 5 Challenging the Obesity Myth: Men’s Critical Understandings of the Body Mass Index, Lee F. Monaghan; Chapter 6 Schoolboys, Physical Education and Bullying: ‘Hey, Leave Those Kids Alone!’, Michael Atkinson Methodological Appendix;