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Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Kimmel
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.68
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Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 11121
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 10 x 9.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0060831340
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.310973
EAN: 9780060831349
ASIN: 0060831340
Publication Date: September 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Why do so many guys seem stuck between adolescence and adulthood? Why do so many of them fail to launch? Just what is going on with America's young men? The passage from adolescence to adulthood was once clear, coherent, and relatively secure: in their late teenage years and early twenties, guys "put away childish things" and entered their futures as responsible adults. Today growing up has become more complex and confusing as young men drift casually through college and beyond—hanging out, partying, playing with tech toys, watching sports. But beneath the appearance of a simple extended boyhood, a more dangerous social world has developed, far away from the traditional signposts and cultural signals that once helped boys navigate their way to manhood. The average young American man today is moving through a new stage of development, a buddy culture unfazed by the demands of parents, girlfriends, jobs, kids, and other nuisances of adult life. Sociologist and gender studies authority Michael Kimmel has identified this territory as "Guyland," a place that is both a stage of life and a new social arena. Guyland is the locker room writ large: the world where young men both test and prove themselves as men and develop the defining attitudes and self-images they will carry into adulthood. Kimmel has interviewed hundreds of young men ages sixteen to twenty-six in high schools and college fraternity houses, military academies and sports bars, to better understand Guyland's rules and restrictions, its layers of peer pressure and gender policing, its features and artifacts—from the ordinary (video games, sports, and music) to the extreme (violent fraternity initiations, sexual predation). In mapping the social world where tomorrow's men are made, Kimmel offers a view into the minds and times of America's sons, brothers, and boyfriends, and works toward redefining what it means to be a man today—and tomorrow. Only by understanding this world and this life stage can we enable young men to chart their own paths, to stay true to themselves, and to travel safely through Guyland, emerging as responsible and fully formed men of integrity and honor.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Incredible read December 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (12/08)
Michael Kimmel has written an extraordinary account of why young men today do not grow up as they did in past generations. Through his interviews with hundreds of young men ages sixteen to twenty-six, Kimmel gives us the inside scoop on why young men are marching a different path today. For them, the responsibility of work, marriage and responsibility is a something that will come later on.
What is interesting is the chapter on Culture of Protection. It's a guy thing apparently. An example is a group of young men lured a mentally-challenged girl into a basement with the intent to have sex with her. Two of the young men didn't want to participate so they left. However, they did not tell anyone what was happening even though they knew it was wrong. Parents also have a tendency to gloss over activities they know are harmful to their sons or someone else. Dads are proud of their sons for showing their "maleness." Is this what we have become? Just because you're a guy it's okay to harm others, take what doesn't belong to you and then act like it never happened?
Throughout the book, "Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men," the author, Michael Kimmel, addresses subjects such as: sex, marriage and work. He provides much insight into what is going on in the minds of young men today. His interviews with many young men stun the reader. As a Psychologist I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the younger generation today- boy was I surprised! It makes me look at my own 30-year-old son, who sadly is still stuck in Guyland.
 Completely Biased December 18, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Kimmel is completely biased. My stupid Human Development professor made us read this stupid book. Kimmel does not give a balanced study. He studies guys who fit his criteria and he makes it seem like the problem he is studying is an epidemic. I've met all kinds of people out there and many of us have also met all kinds of people. When it comes to guys I've met only a small handful who fit into his "Guyland" theory. This book is going to be one of those idiotic books that will end up in the back of the library in the next ten years. There's nothing wrong with being a pro-feminist or pro or anti anything, as long as you acknowledge the opposite side's negatives and POSITIVES. He does not present the guys who are succeeding in life, who have fruitful careers and relationships. He only takes about the "failures" the "guys." And he makes it seem like it's a national epidemic worst than obesity or heart disease.
My professor was also a feminist moron. She kept showing us biased evidence. She showed us these stupid pictures of action figures from the late 90's and showed us pictures that showed how they kept getting bigger and bigger. She was trying to make a stupid point that toy makers were trying to persuade little boys that this was the image they should be looking up to. Well, I found myself in Wal-Mart a few days later and decided to look at the action figures that they were selling. And most if not all the action figures were all normal. Some were muscular, but nothing like the ones that she showed is in class. It is Kimmel and my professor who are giving feminist a bad name.
Extreme, skewed, one sided December 1, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I found this book to be extremely biased in the way it depicted guys in their mid-twenties. I believe the author knew which conclusion he wanted to reach and then did everything in his power to make the information he was provided with reach that conclusion. His thesis seems to be that every male who is single and in their twenties is a loser, alcoholic and rapist. This could not be further from the truth. I myself am a resident of Guyland and have been employed since I was sixteen. I graduated from University two years ago and have been employed full time since then. Furthermore,my friends who are also residents of Guyland all are educated and employed. One of them actually has a six figure salary. We all work hard, however, once the workday is done we are perfectly within our rights to spend our time any way we choose to as long as it falls within the limits of the law. The fact that we choose to party, travel and date during our twenties does not make us losers or bad guys, in fact many girls that are the same age as us have chosen the same lifestyle. Dr. Kimmel purposefully ignores this and just offers up crude stereotypes of frat boys. Personally, I feel that he is just projecting his own insecurities. Dr. Kimmel was probably one of the boys in elementary school who skipped rope instead of playing soccer and was picked on because of this. He thus has strong feelings of resentment and hatred towards any kind of masculinity and seems hellbent on turning all men into spineless automatons. Personally, I choose to keep my guy "edge" and no condescending sociologist or girl/woman will make me lose it.
Peace
Disturbing news for parents November 24, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this to be an amazing book, full of deep insights, and a boatload of disturbing stories. Personally, I would consider it a "Must Read," particularly for parents of college guys. Having said that, it is anything but a "how to fix it" book.
 Boys Become Men November 12, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
After I came across the book Guyland by Michael Kimmel, I could not stop reading it. This book is about male teenagers around the age of 16 to 26 transferring to adulthood and how the guys handle the changes. The author explains that "Guyland", is a stage in life where guys put away immature things and try to take up responsibilities. Becoming older and more mature has made it very complex for college students to focus on there work, and to concentrate on what will benefit there future. The author states that the average college guy can be found "hanging out, partying, playing with tech toys, or watching sports".
What I enjoy about this book is that, the author can really relate to college students and typical guys in general. The author knows that guys are more interested in partying, watching sports, and hanging out with their friends. Studying usually happens after that in my perspective.
The author is very concerned on why guys seem to be stuck between adolescence and adulthood, and why guys can't take school serious and pass all there courses and get a legit job with good money, but that isn't always easy for most guys. The author has interviewed hundreds of young men and most of them find themselves living with there parents after they graduate college, because finding a job is very difficult in the world today, guys also seem to be stuck in there own little world the author calls "Guyland". The author states that "the average young American man today is moving through a new stage of development, a buddy culture unfazed by the demands of parents, girlfriends, jobs, kids, and other nuisances of adult life".
Guyland is a good book for women who have a hard time understanding men and what goes through there head, this book will answer a lot of questions that women are looking for. This book is also a good read for men in college or high school, the author interviews many students and the interviews will give people a laugh.
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