Jackson Katz

Why Some Men Hurt Women and and How All Men Can Help

The Macho Paradox

Dode B. Levenson

Dode B Levenson

So You Think You're Jewish

Why Americans always elect men as presidents? It’s no secret that there is a wide—and growing—gender gap in American presidential politics. Over the past thirty years, Democrats have made major gains with women, while Republicans have been doing far better with men —especially white working class men. The question is why? In Leading Men, Jackson Katz argues that racial politics and economic anxieties are not enough to explain the dramatic gender divide in American voting patterns. Cutting against the grain of typical analyses of the gender gap that have focused almost exclusively on women, Katz trains his focus the other way around: on the male side of the equation. He offers stunning evidence that American presidential campaigns have evolved into nothing less than quadrennial referenda on competing versions of American manhood. And in the process, he never takes his eye off what this development means for women—as both candidates and citizens. Written in an engaging style that will appeal to general readers, political experts, and activists alike, Katz explores some of the major political developments, news events and campaign strategies that have made the presidency the center of a cultural conversation about manhood over the past few decades. Ranging from the election of the former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan in 1980, through the election of Barack Obama in 2008, and into the 2012 campaign season, Katz zeroes in on how the very notion of what it means to be “presidential” has in many ways become synonymous with traditional definitions of manhood. Whether he is examining right-wing talk radio’s relentless attacks on the masculinity of Democratic candidates, or how fears of appearing weak and vulnerable end up shaping candidates’ actual policy positions, Katz offers a new way to understand the power of image in presidential politics. In the end, Leading Men offers nothing less than a paradigm-shifting way to understand the dynamics of presidential elections, and the very nature of the American presidency.

Presidential Campaigns and the Politics of Manhood

Leading Men

Why has the U.S. never had a woman president? With Hillary Clinton engaged in a historic campaign that could see her becoming the first woman elected president of the United States, the national conversation about gender and the presidency is gaining critical momentum. Commentators have fixated on the special challenges women candidates for the presidency face: endless media scrutiny about what they look like, the clothes they wear, the deeply sexist attitudes and beliefs that keep people from believing a woman is capable of serving as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. But gender has always been a crucial factor in presidential politics, especially in recent decades, as the Civil Rights, womens and gay rights movements have transformed the social landscape and presented a major challenge to traditional white male power and privilege. In Man Enough?, Jackson Katz puts forth the original and highly provocative thesis that in this cultural context presidential campaigns have become the center stage of an ongoing national debate about manhood, a kind of quadrennial referendum on what type of manor one day, womanembodies not only our ideological beliefs, but our very identity as a nation. Written in an engaging style that will appeal to general readers, political experts, and activists alike, Katz explores some of the major political developments, news events and campaign strategies in key elections in recent history. Ranging from the election of the former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan in 1980 through the re-election of Barack Obama, and extending his analysis into the 2016 election season, Katz zeroes in on how the very notion of what it means to be presidential is linked closely with evolving ideas about manhood. Whether he is exam

Hillary Clinton and the Politics of Presidential Masculinity

Man Enough?

Jackson Katz

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