What About Men? by Caitlin Moran
What About Men? by Caitlin Moran was published last year and recently came out in paperback. Following her two feminist books about life as a woman – How to Be a Woman and More Than a Woman – it considers life for men. The book received a lot of negative reviews when it first came out – that it was too simplistic and that eg not all men rely on the women in their lives to tell them to go to the doctor.
But I love Caitlin Moran’s writing. She is around my age, and like me, she is a married woman with grown up kids (and a cockapoo). Her life is considerably more rock and roll than mine, but fundamentally, I find her very relatable and very funny. I wasn’t going to let a few negative reviews put me off reading her book.
In the introduction to this paperback edition, Caitlin addresses the negativity. She’d spent that time collecting a few statistics, which back up what she is saying in What About Men?. Boys are more likely to be medicated for disruptive behaviour and more likely to be excluded from school. They are less likely to go on to further education and more likely to be addicted to drugs, alcohol or porn. They are more likely be involved in criminal behaviour and involved in violence. Men make up 96% of the prison population and 83% of the UK homeless population. Suicide is the leading cause of death among men under 50.
Since the book was first published, two men in her social group had died suddenly of underlying heart conditions and two had taken their own lives. Nobody knew they were struggling because they didn’t talk about it.
While clearly written from the perspective of a woman – a feminist at that, plenty of research went into What About Men?. So it’s not entirely based on a middle-aged woman’s funny thoughts about men and bums and willies. (Although there is some of that too.) It is based on the ‘normal’ male life experiences of straight, white men. Clearly the experiences of gay men or men from other ethnicities and cultures would be slightly different.
Chapters range from How to Be a Boy, through The Conversations of Men, The Bodies of Men and The Clothes of Men. Cocks and balls get their own chapter, as does pornography. I must admit to being very happily naive about pornography and I found that chapter particularly disturbing. Andrew Tate comes up – and I learned more about him that I’ve ever known before too.
There are chapters on male friendships, including the all-important banter, fatherhood, illnesses (and why men won’t go to the doctor) and finally mid-life crises and getting old.
I recently read And Away… – Bob Mortimer’s autobiography – which I absolutely LOVED. So I was very happy when there was a small section about Bob, from when Caitlin was a guest on Gone Fishing.
What About Men? is an insightful and also humorous read. It would be nice if men read it and it would be nice if women read it too. I thought some of it would be very helpful to my son as a medical student. Yes, he is a young man. But he’s a young man who is highly intelligent, very good at sport, doesn’t drink alcohol and went to a grammar school. He’s been quite sheltered from ‘normal’ boys and men. I think it would give him an understanding of men and boys when he sees them in a professional capacity.
If you’re not offended by a few small generalisations (which are based on fact), I would definitely recommend What About Men?.
