Rating: 
Summary: "Oh, Mummy, I'm JUST SO MAD!"
Review: "Spreading Misandry" is a perfect example of the sort of "misery politics" that are flourishing in this age of disempowerment-as-virtue. The dripping self-pity leaking through the torpid writing almost, but not completely, drowns out the shrill misogyny,and the keening whine of victimization. Nathanson and Young are the Robin Hood and Maid Marian of the men's movement (though it is far from clear which is which) flinging far-fetched and inaccurate movie and pop culture references against the wall of their thesis like so much wet toilet paper, clearly praying that something will stick. It doesn't. Any reader who expects enlightenment from a book whose authors brag--up front--that their research isn't scientific, will be sorely disappointed. The major question Nathanson and Young completely fail to answer is why--if men are so victimized and held in "contempt"--so few of them are complaining. No one, it seems, is as bothered by this "victimization" as Nathanson and Young. The one question it DOES answer, definitively, is why the men's movement so unpalatable to most men. Aside from the patronizing arrogance inherent assuring an entire gender that they are "victims" and too dumb to know it (and victims of evil "idealogical feminists" at that), it seems doubtful that said "victims" have been waiting miserably for this tag-team writing duo to ride to their rescue. They likely are too busy leading actual lives involving spouses, children, jobs, and friends(or any combination thereof), enjoying the incredible benifits and responsibilities of being a man in this society, to join the authors in their weepy pity party. This clammy priapus-gazing is so off-putting that any sympathy for men's rights and issues may shrivel at the point where the reader sees what it looks like reflected back at them in Nathanson and Young's version, which means they have done the men's movement a huge disservice. Most ominous of all is the threat of two more shrieky volumes. This book is bound to make a radical feminist out of any belly-scratching, beer-swilling hairyback, and my advice is, if you absolutely want "Spreading Misandry," (maybe as a joke gift for your favourite "idealogical feminist") wait for the paperback. Or, better yet, wait for the remainder bin--the savings are incredible. It won't be long.
Rating: 
Summary: Dynamite!!
Review: (...) this book (in spite of a few small flaws) is perhaps the best thing dealing with men's issues to come down the pike in the last couple of years. And that includes Warren Farrell's last two books, the first of which, "Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say", deals with much the same topic (though it's nevertheless distinct in its particulars). The critique Nathanson & Young offer up is absolutely devastating and one can only hope that it opens up an entirely new field of badly needed criticism because, as extensive as the book is, it barely touches the surface when one stops to think about it. For example, the immensely popular "Frazier" TV show isn't even mentioned, and Seinfeld only appears in a footnote -- so there's much material yet to be mined, especially at the rate the garbage is being produced for dozens of channels.One weak spot I noticed was the tendency to analyze works from the early 90's rather than more recent offerings. I got the impression much of the material had sat on the shelf for a long time and it made me wonder why this was, so it would have been nice to have had some explanation of this, perhaps in the preface. Because of the ephemeral nature of "hits", I wasn't sure that I'd even heard of some of the films they go into great depths on. This was only a minor drawback, but I did wonder why, if they were going back in time some, they ignored, for example, the mid-80's (`85?) Best (sic) Picture "Out of Africa", which seemed a prime example of many of their themes (which also touch on race), while perhaps trying too hard to make their case on one or two other films. No matter, I'm being picky. No book as impassioned as this could be absolutely perfect. They successfully make it impossible for anyone who reads this book -- even someone already somewhat sensitive to the central idea -- to ever look at popular media quite the same way again, which is exactly what they intended. Even if their exact theory as to *why* all this is going on might be subject to some more debate IMO, the overwhelming evidence they present is more than reason enough to read the book. I know I'll be re-reading sections of my copy for a long time to come in order to fully absorb all the important ideas here.
Rating:
Summary: The enemy is the left
Review: A absolutely brilliant book on the grossly hypocritical spreading of an ideology of hatred towards men in the western world through the mass media. The authors attribute this new social movement to ideological feminism and its components - essentialism, dualistic thinking, the conspiracy theory of history, collectivism, and the end justifies the means. They also correctly identify postmodernmism as undermining debate in a cynical two step process - by questioning the motives of their opponents but never their own. Although this book is hard to fault, it does not go far enough in my view (though there are two more books to come). The first point I would like to make is that women are not oppressed. Hence feminism in the western world is redundant in its entirety. The second point is that to a large extent feminists realise this. Feminism is part of a larger counter- cultural movement known as "the left" which is essentially a revolutionary movement which is simply opposed to anything and everything in society today, western societies in particular. In this sense it is linked to the ideology of multiculturalism, multiracialism, the welfare state, postmodernism, due process, majority rule, etc. There is also a streak of utopianism in there somewhere (destroy the village in order to save it). The welfare state has cut to the heard of relationships between men and women by reducing men's individual usefulness to individual women. Women are able to get financial support from men as a group without having to form a relationship with a man, via the welfare state - particularly welfare payments to single mothers. It is this economic arrangement that makes a man - hating ideology feasible. I find the depth of cynicism this book has revealed in the merchants of popular culture depressing and it tests your faith in human nature. The problem is the power of human self delusion. It is also in the western world's continual failure to control the influence of extreme but highly influential minority groups. It is a failure of democracy.
Rating:
Summary: About Time
Review: Finally, a lucid, beautifully written book which takes seriously the politically inconvenient but dead true fact that current Western culture is awash in misandry. Type 'misandry' on your Word program and it will tell you that there is no such word. If Nathanson and Young's book gets anything like the readership it deserves, 'misandry' won't be a non-word much longer. The thinking on display in 'Spreading Misandry' is so clear, so apt, so free of cant, that even the most militant ideological feminist ought to be able to read it with something approaching delight. And so singular and distinct is the authorial voice in the book that one can only gasp in admiration that it was in fact written by two authors. Moreover, since one of them is a man, the other a woman, readers can have real hope that the spread of misandry can be stopped by men AND women acting together for the sake of that old friend of humankind 'the common good'.
Rating:
Summary: Spreading Mi$andry for Fun & Profit
Review: I have just finished reading the excellent new book - "SPREADING MISANDRY - The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture" (By Nathanson & Young - ISBN 0-7735-2272-7), and I must admit that my reactions are rather mixed. It is kind of like visiting the doctor with a funny pain that you can't quite identify and being told you have a serious problem, only different. On the one hand the anxiety of not knowing is now over, although the news that clears it up is not in the least welcome. In truth this work could be considered two and a half books inside one cover. One book presents the authors view of the popular culture of Misandry, and another the Nature of what is presented as "Ideology Feminism" (which some may recognize as being quite similar to 'Gender Feminism' / 'Superiority Feminism' / 'Feminazism' used by others). There are also well documented appendices dealing with everything from daytime talk shows to deconstructing the so called 'Deconstructionist' movement. (...)I would recommend this book to anyone interested in modern gender relations, as they lay bare so much that is currently obfuscated by propaganda and media spin, and put it all out for public inspection. In fact it kind of reminds me of the movie 'The Wizard of Oz', where toto the dog pulls back the curtain and shows the mighty Oz at work making a big show out of smoke and mirrors. I am sure that the response from academia will be much the same as the exposed 'Wizard' - "Pay No Attention to the Womyn Behind the Curtain." The authors also examine that highly elusive creature known as "Popular Culture", primarily through its most common carrier of Misandry - the movies and television. (...) This book is as good as it gets when it comes to exposing such type professional scapegoat artiste, and paradoxically all the more depressing for the fine job it does. You will certainly get your money's worth from reading "Spreading Misandry", but with strong medicine there may be an unpleasant aftertaste. Don't blame the authors though, like a competent doctor they have conducted a professional examination and rendered a valid diagnosis, even if nobody is overly fond of the disease discovered. Ohso "Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense." -- George Orwell, 1984
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating and eye-opening book
Review: In this fascinating book, authors Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young look at the pervasiveness of misadry (hatred and belittling of men) in American popular culture. Throughout the book, the authors give a great many examples of blatant misandry, and then carefully put them into context within the feminist worldview. The final chapter is, though, the crowning glory of this book, examining what ideology is, and how modern feminism is an ideology and what that means for ourselves and our future. This is a fascinating and eye-opening book. I do believe that anyone who even casually watches television or movies is aware of a prevalent misandry, but the authors of this book go a long way towards putting the phenomenon in context, showing why it is being done and by whom. If you are interested in the course that American culture is taking, and why, then I highly recommend this book to you.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Stereotype
Review: Isn't it amazing how, in these supposedly enlightened times, when most negative stereotypes have been dismissed as mere products of ignorance, one stereotype continues to be embraced by the culture more than ever-namely, the negative male stereotype? In fact, misandry (the hatred of men) is not only acceptable to most people; it's actually the only form of bigotry deemed "politically correct." It's hard to tell which is more amazing-the fact that misandry is so rampant in popular culture or that it seems to be invisible to so many people despite its prevalence. It's precisely this phenomenon that authors Nathanson and Young analyze in their fascinating book. Ostensibly about misandry in popular culture, it's really about much more than that. For the authors use their detailed analyses of popular movies and televisions shows as a departure point to discuss everything from the effects of industrialization on gender identity to the decline of journalistic objectivity. In fact, much of the delight in reading this book comes from how the authors are able to draw such provocative and surprising connections between seemingly unrelated topics. (For this reason, the book reminds me a bit of Camille Paglia's "Sexual Persona," although the present work will be much more accessible to the average reader.) That accounts for the book's first two hundred pages. But it's after that, as the work moves into its final two chapters and the authors begin addressing the roots of misandry, that the going really gets interesting. Here the authors discuss such rarely acknowledged issues as racism in the early feminist movement and, in one flat-out brilliant section, they provide the best discussion of the relationship between deconstruction theory and feminism that I've ever read. These final two chapters alone are worth the price of the book. Doubtless some readers will not agree with all of the authors' arguments. But the open-minded reader will nonetheless find much here that is fascinating and thought provoking.
Rating:
Summary: Victim Misogyny
Review: It is true that the rigid gender roles that prevent communication between the sexes create problems for men. However, this is a manifestation of misogyny, not "misandry." Dogma in gender roles is exactly what feminism was created to work against. The right can throw around millions of dollars in grants so think tanks and individuals can write books like this or put forth endless untrue criticisms of feminism on Fox News, but there will always be people who just don't think it's right for women to make 76 cents for every dollar a man makes. They can't stop that by insisting that men are somehow under attack.
Rating:
Summary: an enlightening read
Review: Men and Boys are getting royally screwed today..in healthcare,in education,in the job market..and misandry is the reason why.I even took my own son out of school because I new he wasnt getting a fair shake in a "feminized" educational setting.He is currently being homeschooled by me and my professor Father.This book lays it all out,the pervasiveness of misandry,its origins and possible solutions to combatting the problem.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed bag.
Review: Reading the previous reviews, it's easy to assume that the people who hated it are women, while those who love it are men. This is one of the many books that the people who could learn something from won't touch, while those who already believe the basic premise will simply have those beliefs reinforced. I fall in to the latter group. I've long noticed that images of men that appear in the media don't have their counterpart images of women - too politically incorrect. So I like realizing that, while I may be totally prejudiced and mistaken in that belief, I'm not the only one who thinks that's what's going on. So, no problem with the over all premise. I guess what I dislike about this book, is that it doesn't speak to the average person. By the time I get through reading some of the analyses of the media it discusses, I'm at the "Who cares?" point. For instance, the name 'Bridge' comes under analysis as being symbolic of transcendence, technology, and maleness, as opposed to earthiness, practicality, and femaleness, in the movie Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. Now maybe it really does contribute to an overall point about men, but I think it would be lost on most viewers of that movie - and maybe it's simply a name. If there is as much misandry going on as the authors state, then understanding the symbolism behind that name doesn't seem overwhemingly important. It's a bit too *academic*, from my point of view. I mean, that analysis isn't going to do much towards getting fairer and more balanced representations of males into the media. While that may well be the authors' purpose, it's a purpose that is somewhat lost on me. So, while I think it's a worthwhile book in many ways, I'd like to see something that simply helps me to figure out if it's just my imagination that there's a lot of misandry in the media and culture, or not. I mean, is that entirely impossible to be objective about? We can pretty much count on feminists to either deny the existence of misandry, or to justify it. We can pretty much count on women to think that men have all the advantages. We can pretty much count on many men to be more sympathetic to these authors' viewpoint. Is there no way to know if there are significantly more negative references to men than to women in books, movies, television, songs, greeting cards, etc. etc.? That in itself, seems like a yes or no question, to me.
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