Michael Kimmel - Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era

Also by Michael Kimmel

The Guys Guide to Feminism (with Michael Kaufman)

Misframing Men: The Politics of Contemporary Masculinities

Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men

The History of Masculinity: Essays

The Gender of Desire: Essays on Masculinity and Sexuality

The Gendered Society

Manhood in America: A Cultural History

The Politics of Manhood

Against the Tide: Pro-Feminist Men in the U.S., 17761990

Men Confront Pornography

Mens Lives (with Michael Messner)

Changing Men: New Directions in the Study of Men and Masculinity

Absolutism and Its Discontents: State and Society in 17th Century France and England

Revolution: A Sociological Interpretation

Copyright 2013 by Michael Kimmel

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Designed by Pauline Brown

Typeset in 11 point ITC Giovanni Std

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kimmel, Michael S.

Angry white men : American masculinity at the end of an era / by Michael Kimmel.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-56858-964-0 (e-book) 1. MenUnited StatesAttitudes. 2. WhitesUnited StatesAttitudes. 3. MasculinityUnited States. 4. EqualityUnited States. 5. Civil rightsUnited States. I. Title.

HQ1090.3.K55175 2013

155.3'320973dc23

2013025872

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For
Amy and Zachary,
always

CONTENTS

That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood, And still revolt when truth would set them free. License they mean when they cry liberty...

JOHN MILTON, SONNET XII (1645)

W henever people have asked me about the subject of my new book, Ive barely managed to tell them the three words of the title before theyve regaled me with stories of blind rage being directed at them, daily incivility witnessed or experienced, outrage theyve felt, heard, or expressed. Ive heard so many recountings of the shouting across the aisles of Congress, the TV talking heads, or the radio ragers. Theyve talked of being enraged at demonstrations, confronted by equally enraged counterdemonstrators. Ive heard of people behaving murderously on freeways, of my friends being frightened to sit in the stands at their childrens hockey games or on the sidelines of their soccer matches. And nearly everyone has complained about Internet trolls who lurk on news websites and blogs ready to pounce viciously on anyone with whom they might disagree.

And theyve told me that theyve found themselves angrier than theyd been. Some were concerned that theyre far angrier than they remember their parents being. Others have tried to maintain a boundary between political anger and raging against their families, though even there the boundary seems, to some, elusive. The national blood pressure is elevated, said my friend Dan, a doctor given toward physiological metaphors. Its at a frighteningly high level. Cultural beta blockers are in order.

This rise in American anger has been widelyand angrily!noticed. Pundits lay the blame on greedy corporations, gridlocked legislatures, cruel and angry local and state governments, demographic shifts that infuriate the native born, and special interest groups promoting their special interest agendas. Mostly, they blame themsome group, organization, or institution that has acted so egregiously that outrage feels justified, righteous. The groups or individuals change; the scapegoating has become a national pastime.

And I admit, Ive been angry too. Im outraged by the arrogant religious sanctimoniousness of churches shielding pedophiles. I get impatient waiting on the telephone talking to yet another menu of options, righteously indignant when crazed drivers swerve across three lanes of traffic to gain one car length, and aggravated by political gridlock and smarmy politicians. Im easily ired when receptionists in offices or hosts in restaurants sigh loudly at my innocent request that they actually do their jobs and call the person Im meeting or find me a table at which to eat. Im generally not a grumpy person, but sometimes it feels that every other person is either smug, arrogant, infuriating, incompetent, or politically inanesometimes all of the above.

Often I get angry about politics. How can I not? Im incensed by intransigent, obstructionist Republicans in Congress who wont admit the mandate that the president received in his trouncing of Mitt Romney and irritated by a feckless and spineless Democratic majority that cant seem to seize that mandate. I fume about the inordinate influence a bunch of highly organized gun advocates have over public policy, even when popular opinion swings the other way.

There are other emotions besides anger, of course: anguish when I read of young black boys shot by the police; heartsick for gays and lesbians still targeted for violence by hateful neighbors for loving whom they love; torn apart at stories of women raped, beaten, and murdered, often by the very men who say they love them; horrified when people are blown up simply for running in a race or children are massacred simply for being at school.

On the other hand, Im also aware that despite all, its probably never been better to be a person of color, a woman, or LGBT in the United States. Yes, old habits die hard, and assumptions may die harder. But its a pretty easy case to make that whether by race, gender, or sexuality, America has never been more equal. (Class is another storyand one I will tell in this book.) So Im also thrilled that Ive lived long enough to see a black man in the White House, women heading national governments and major corporations, lesbians and gay men proclaiming their love for the world to see.

Let me be clear: I am in no way saying we have arrived at some postracial, postfeminist, postcivil rights utopia; and even less am I saying that some switch has been thrown and now men or white people or straight people are the new victims of some topsy-turvy agenda. Im simply saying that women are safer today than they have ever been in our society, that LGBT are more accepted and freer to love whom they love, and that racial and ethnic minorities confront fewer obstacles in their efforts to fully integrate into American society.

To be sure, Im temperamentally an optimist. As both an academic and an activist, I often think of optimism as part of my job description. As an activist, I believe that through constant struggle, our society can, and will, be shaped into a society that better lives up to its promise of liberty and justice for all. And as an academic, I believe that if I can inspire my students to engage more critically with their world, and help them develop the tools with which they can do that, their lives, however they choose to live them, and with whatever political and ethical orientations they may have, will be better as a result.