Description
Book SynopsisCarnage in the classroom, misogynists in high office, sociopaths in uniform, masculinity is a killer. From styles of dress to the stunted capacity for expressing a diversity of emotions, becoming a man involves killing off and repudiating anything that in our society is held as feminine. When a person is unable to show compassion and tenderness, or when exposed for their frailties, feels angry and humiliated, they have problems. Problems that none of us are immune to. Masculinity, Cremin provocatively declares, is a generic disorder of a sick society that afflicts even the best of us. Neither a condition of being human nor even of male, it is a disorder, as she illustrates, of a capitalist society that depends and even thrives upon its very symptoms. From the perspective of a trans woman raised to be a man, the book maps the disorder and speculates on the possible means to overcome it. Instead of signifying weakness, catastrophes can be prevented when the qualities men often fear a
Trade ReviewExtremely thoughtful, insightful and provocative. * Times Higher Education *
Gender, haven’t we had enough of the old clichés? But in these pages Ciara Cremin makes a compelling and eloquent case for the necessity of all that is signified by the ‘feminine’. It is those practices anchored in ‘masculinity’, whoever performs them, with their repudiation of the ‘feminine’, which secure the depredations of our capitalist world. This is crucial reading for all in search of that transformed world we all need, if we are to have any viable future at all. * Lynne Segal, Anniversary Professor, Emeritus, Birkbeck, University of London, UK *
Man enough to be a woman and not hate it? Ciara Cremin courageously attacks
the severe gender dysphoria of the androcentric capitalism that underpins our white supremacist society, arguing that the antidote for its toxicity is femininity seen not as a biological destiny but as a vector of futurity. A powerful and original voice in "second wave" transgender studies, Cremin’s visionary sociology points toward the only possible livable future. * Patricia Gherovici, psychoanalyst and author of Transgender Psychoanalysis (2017) *
Seldom does an essay feature such beautiful writing that it looks like a novel. Cremin's prose unfolds from the first to the last page, supple and sensual. It links two intimately intertwined themes: masculinity as a disorder of capitalism and feminist praxis as its antidote. This is not a book that can be explained, it must be read in one go. * Silvia Gherardi, Professor of Sociology, Research Unit on Communication, Organization Learning and Aesthetics (RUCOLA), University of Trento, Italy *
The
Future is Feminine has heart - a political and practical commitment to addressing the phallocentric dis(order) which sustains heterogenous gender relations. In this transgressive feminine critique of capitalist patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity, a different humanity is imagined for a post-capitalist future. When the future is feminine, joyous, caring, and sustainable lives are possible beyond identity politics and performance. * Alison Pullen, Professor of Gender, Work and Organization, Macquarie University, Australia and Co-Editor of "Gender, Work and Organization" *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Chapter One: The General Sickness Feminine Praxis Femininity in Perspective Androcentric Disorder Miles Davis Teaches How to do Theory
Chapter two: Who’s Ur Daddy? Death Becomes Him Dividends for Disorder The Best is Not Good Enough
Chapter Three: Toxicity Index Tables and Chairs Calibrated Masculinity Reactive / Aggravated Masculinities (RAMS) Degendering Aggression Meet the Signifiers Refusal through Resignification
Chapter Four: Vectors Of Androcentrism Cups and Sorcerers Bezos on the Barricade Dawn of the Disorder The Four Labours of Masculinity Do Androids Have Castration Anxieties?
Chapter Five: Queervestism Perspective on Perversion Pleasure as Principle Lipstick is Life Trans Eye View Transvestic Figure What is Woman Good For?
Chapter Six: Obsolesent Empire A Lack Less Ordinary Femininity is the Riddle of the Masculine Disorder Solved, and it Knows Itself to be this Solution
Bibliography Index
