Michael Kimmel, leading researcher on men, gives talk at SU

Michael Kimmel, leading researcher and writer on men and masculinity, will give a keynote lecture on his latest book, “GuyLand: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.” The talk will be held Thursday, March 24, at 7 p.m. in the Life Sciences Complex, room 001. A Q-and-A session will immediately follow.

The lecture is sponsored by A Men’s Issue (AMI) and co-sponsored by Pride Union, S.A.S.S.E., SU’s Rape: Advocacy, Prevention and Education (R.A.P.E.) Center and Vera House, in conjunction with the 17th annual White Ribbon campaign.  AMI is the first and only all-male student organization at SU that provides a space for men to rethink conventional masculinity and combat sexism before it can manifest as violence.

“Guyland” (Harper Paperbacks, 2008) is a best-selling investigation of young people’s lives today, based on interviews with more than 400 young men, ages 16-26. Featured in major television and radio interviews, the book was widely reviewed and praised in all major media outlets, with one reviewer noting, “If you’ve ever had a conversation with a teenage boy and wondered what on earth was going on … this book will serve you well.” Feminist icon Gloria Steinem says,“Michael Kimmel’s “Guyland” could save the humanity of many young men–and the sanity of their friends and parents.”

Kimmel, a professor of sociology at SUNY Stony Brook, lives in Brooklyn. He is among the leading researchers and writers on men and masculinity in the world today. The author or editor of more than 20 volumes, his books include “Changing Men: New Directions in Research on Men and Masculinity” (Sage Focus Editions,1987), “Men Confront Pornography” (Meridian,1991), “The Politics of Manhood” (Temple Press University,1996), “The Gender of Desire” (State University of New York Press, 2005) and “The History of Men” (State University of New York, 2005). His documentary history, “Against the Tide: Pro-Feminist Men in the United States, 1776-1990” (Beacon, 1992), chronicled men who supported women’s equality since the founding of the country.