The Toxic War on Masculinity

How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes

By: Nancy R. Pearcey

Narrated by: Susan Hanfield

Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

"Why Can't We Hate Men?" asks a headline in the Washington Post. A trendy hashtag is #KillAllMen. Books are sold titled I Hate Men, The End of Men, and Are Men Necessary?

How did the idea arise that masculinity is dangerous and destructive? Bestselling author Nancy Pearcey leads you on a fascinating excursion through American history to discover why the script for masculinity turned toxic—and how to fix it.

Pearcey then turns to surprising findings from sociology. Religion is often cast as a cause of domestic abuse. But research shows that authentically committed Christian men test out as the most loving and engaged husbands and fathers. They have the lowest rates of divorce and domestic violence of any group in America.

Yes, domestic abuse is an urgent issue, and Pearcey does not mince words in addressing it. But the sociological facts explode the negative stereotypes and show that Christianity has the power to overcome toxic behavior in men and reconcile the sexes—an unexpected finding that has stood up to rigorous empirical testing.

©2023 Nancy R. Pearcey (P)2023 eChristian

Outstanding

Nancy Pearcey, former feminist and agnostic, has written another brilliant book. From sociological and historical studies, Nancy shatters the false narrative of the proud Real Man. In contrast, she presents an exalted vision of womanhood and a renewed vision of manhood, which is best reflected in the humble Good Man.

Nancy Nails it Again

Nancy Pearcy combines Christian maturity and academic scholarship to tease out the roots of so many of our modern problems for both men and women, brought about by the rejection of ancient Christian and Jewish principles given to us by God. With the rest of Nancy‘s corpus of writing this book can help us turn the tide in our downward cultural spiral. My only criticism is the narration. This reader is not suited to this subject matter—too slow and breathy. But don’t let that dissuade you from listening to this book!

Thorough Presentation of True Masculinity

I heard this author on the Hank Unplugged Podcast. She presents the best analysis and history of masculinity that I have heard.

The presentation is balanced and offers a reasoned basis for what masculinity is and should be.

Spoiler alert: The author doesn’t make men out as chest beating doddering fools.

The reader was good but slow. I boosted the speed to 1.25X and felt comfortable.

Thoughtful and nuanced

I thought this was an excellent discussion that highlighted the sharp contrast between our society’s definition of a “real man” (basically toxic masculinity) and the Bible’s definition of what it means to be a true man—a servant of others. I particularly loved the history Pearcey explained. I was relieved that she avoided gender stereotypes and also addressed abuse. A solid, thought-provoking, helpful book.

This is a great book!

This was a a great listen filled with important information which gives a sense of challenge. We can all do better and point each other to Jesus. We need to stop the "us vs them" mentality when it comes to male to female relationships and work together as the body of Christ to build each other up and leave a better future for the coming generations.

A lot of good stuff, with one issue.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. The author had a lot of great insights, especially digging into history. I learned quite a bit from that.

I do have one complaint though. When discussing abusive husbands, the author gets her answers from the culture, rather than Scripture. Even the labels and categories she uses are borrowed from culture. That's not only unhelpful, but teaches people to think in unbiblical categories. This was a 5-star book until I got to the last chapter.

Good, but confused

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the loads of information contained in it, it tries to tackle in my estimation three different topics under one title.

The book begins on point talking about true masculinity and uses the paradigm of the good man versus the real man.

Next, the book delves into the industrial age and pens most of our masculinity problems on changes and cultures that accompanied that age. (I found this section both enlightening and somewhat dubious. It seems as though from the author’s viewpoint, all, or most of all, the problems between men and women would be solved if we simply reverted back to customs and practices of the pre-industrial age.)

Lastly the author takes up pathologies associated with a small minority of men and how they work themselves out into both spousal and child abuse.

All of these topics are germane for this generation and all are related to men in general, but at times it seemed as though we had started a completely new book.

Great book

Everyone who cares about developing godly men should listen to/read this book. Best book in this topic that I’ve experienced so far.

A conscious rebuttal on Toxic Masculinity

I liked The books overall objective on dismantling the narrative on objectification of men and our so called toxic behavior

great for men and anyone related to one

solid research, great analysis, solid biblical foundation, helpful practical suggestions. if anything I would have wanted a little more acknowledgement that there are some cultural things that can be positive for influencing godly masculinity.