Laura Kipnis on Men: Notes From an Ongoing Investigation at Miami Book Fair
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- čas přidán 9. 12. 2014
- Rich Fahle interviews author and essayist Laura Kipnis about her new collection, Men: Notes From an Ongoing Investigation, at Miami Book Fair International 2014.
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FROM THE PUBLISHER:
From the notoriously contrarian author of Against Love, a witty and probing examination of why badly behaved men have been her lifelong fascination, on and off the page
It’s no secret that men often behave in intemperate ways, but in recent years we’ve witnessed so many spectacular public displays of male excess-disgraced politicians, erotically desperate professors, fallen sports icons-that we’re left to wonder whether something has come unwired in the collective male psyche.
In the essays collected here, Laura Kipnis revisits the archetypes of wayward masculinity that have captured her imagination over the years, scrutinizing men who have figured in her own life alongside more controversial public examples. Slicing through the usual clichés about the differences between the sexes, Kipnis mixes intellectual rigor and wit to give us compelling survey of the affinities, jealousies, longings, and erotics that structure the male-female bond. - Zábava
Great observation Rich : "I wonder if men even think that hard." Truth.
+Laura Kennelly That sounds like a pretty laughable and horribly baseless observation, though.
+Laura Kennelly If men didn't "even think that hard" i wonder why the overwhelming majority of scientific breakthroughs have been achieved by men. Or look at philosophy, an area that is primarily about exactly that.. thinking hard. And thinking hard in a clear and logical way. Now look at all the great philosophers of humanity that had a profound impact. Almost all of them were and still are men. To assume that all men don't "think that hard" seems far from the "truth" if you look at reality.
And before you get all upset (i just assume you will because you're probably looking for something to get upset about as soon as someone defends men): I'm not saying that all men are more intelligent than women. The truth is that mens intelligence is just spread out wider. There are more men on both ends, really low intelligence and really high intelligence. The average man and woman are statistically of equal intelligence.
Men have done a lot of hard thinking and we are all enjoying the fruits of that hard work in our daily lifes. I think a bit of respect and gratitude wouldn't be missplaced here.
Of course men are smart--I have four sons and they are all wonderful and smart and think a lot. As to the scientific breakthroughs--go men! let's have some more. There are many women who have contributed too (eg. Madame Curie, I don't really need to defend that). And, for a funny note, remember the woman who inspired "Cheaper By the Dozen" (and raised 12 children with her husband) became an efficiency expert. I'm sure she had to..But I'm not a "rebuke" type person and I'm not that kind of critic. I did check her book, Men, from the library, but it got boring and lost interest. Her more recent one about love (Against Love) is much better & not really against love. I think she's basically a comic.
I wonder why women feel qualified to write about what it means to be a man? It's like a man writing a book about what it means to be pregnant. A woman will never fully understand what masculinity is. Just as men will never be able to fully understand femininity. Seems a bit of a waste of time and energy to write that book. It's better to put no information out there, than misinformation.
She has probably done a better job than some other women that wrote about masculinity. My point is more that i feel that the whole discussion is unnecessary. We all are what we are and all the talking, writing, shaming and arguing about it wont change much. I just think we should prioritize other things as humanity faces far greater problems than gender identity right now.
Men being listless? No they are broken down by feminist vindictiveness in law and behaviour #laurakipnis