Customer Reviews

Imagined Masculinities: Male Identity and Culture in the Modern Middle East

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There have been close to no books on men's studies in the Middle East, despite Western depictions of the region as a very gendered society. In this way this book was a much-needed intervention. It divides into the following three parts: sociology, cultural studies, and autobiography.

The book is pretty representative. Firstly, it includes both Muslims and Jews: most books cover either solely the former or the latter. Women and gays are brought up. It's geographically diverse, discussing Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, etc. Like the editors, the contributors are both Arab and non-Arab. Most importantly, this book covers all the topics one would imagine coming up in this area: the military, circumcision, moustaches, heterosexual relationships, father-son dynamics, etc.

I have three opinions on the text. First, readers will be surprised to see that these academics do not feign objectivity in the slightest. They are very opinionated and critical. Sexism, Saddam, and Gaza-based violence are called out and condemned very pointedly. Second, masochism comes up a lot here. This book is filled with guys enduring pain solely because their communities expect them too. Ouch! Third, this book just wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. I ended up reading it intermittently.

This book was written pre-911. However, post-911 readers will still find it incredibly useful. As more people become interested in the Mideast, let's hope they are interested in studying its intersection with gender matters.