ABSTRACT

Having looked at both malestream accounts of public men and feminist accounts of public patriarchy, I want now to ask-how can we go on to construct a pro-feminist/antipatriarchal account of public men and public masculinities? To do so I think it is necessary to engage in a contradictory way with the concept of public patriarchy. This involves, on the one hand (in Ch. 5), a sympathetic critique of the concept, on the other (in this chapter) an extension of the concept to include explanations of and initial implications for public men and public masculinities. For, although there is a clear diversity of views on what might be understood by public patriarchy, it is possible to spell out some of the implications of this broad approach for the analysis of men. Thus, I am attempting to develop a constructive critique of public patriarchy in order to understand, change, and deconstruct public men and public masculinities.