WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?

THE MACHO PARADOX is the first book ever to comprehensively and convincingly make the case that violence against women is a men’s issue. Jackson Katz, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on this subject, takes the reader deep inside male culture to examine why so many men physically and sexually abuse women and children, including those closest to them.

Today in America between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6 women will be the victim of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime, and one prominent study found that at least 20% of adolescent girls have been physically or sexually abused by a date or a boyfriend.

Written for both women and men, THE MACHO PARADOX provides women with original and creative ways of thinking about how to reverse this ongoing national tragedy. It also makes a powerful case to men that the only way to end the abuse and mistreatment of women is for many more self-identified “good guys” to make these issues their own.

Because men’s violence against women is a problem in both white communities and communities of color, the book explores some of the ways in which issues of race and ethnicity intersect with sexism.

The writing style in THE MACHO PARADOX is designed to engage the general reader. But the ideas it conveys are cutting-edge, and the book contains an extensive end note section and index, providing useful tools for academics, as well as college and high school students.

Katz shares numerous stories from men about how violence against women affects them personally. He also incorporates the voices and experiences of women -- and men -- who have confronted the problem of gender violence from all angles, specifically highlighting successful strategies for institutional – and ultimately cultural – change. .

In addition to its emphasis on how to prevent such crimes as sexual and domestic violence, sexual harassment, street harassment, and the sexual abuse of children, THE MACHO PARADOX also contains fascinating commentary on such high-profile and controversial subjects as Eminem, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl halftime debacle, the Scott Peterson case, pornography, prostitution and stripping, rap and rock music, sexism in male sports culture, Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, and Kobe Bryant.

Historically and in the present, women’s leadership has catalyzed amazing societal changes in the areas of sexual and domestic violence prevention. Jackson Katz is an influential figure in a growing movement of men, here in the U.S. and around the world, who are building on women’s leadership and taking the work of gender violence prevention into male culture, in the effort to engage many more men as allies in this critical work. This book is an important contribution to this exciting new area of social change activism.