The Macho Paradox

Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help

By: Jackson Katz

Narrated by: Adam Lofbomm

Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Revised and updated to include current studies, politics, and discussions, The Macho Paradox is the first book to show how violence against women is a male issue as well as a female one - and how we can come together to stop it. 

Written by pioneering anti-violence educator Jackson Katz, The Macho Paradox incorporates the voices and experiences of women and men who have confronted the problem from all angles, the discussions surrounding currents events in politics and pop culture, and where the violence is ignored or encouraged in our upbringing. Katz also offers cogent explanations for why so many men harass and hurt women, and he shows what can be done to stop the violence. 

By working together as allies, Katz shows how all genders can end the abuse and mistreatment of women.

©2006, 2019 Jackson Katz (P)2019 Tantor

A must read

So much pertinent information, critical to understanding the cultural dichotomy unraveling today in the me too movement as well as the cultural unrest looming in this nation

Must reading for every human being

Heard about Emma Watson leaving books for people to find on the underground and such? Please partner with her (and anyone else you can think of) to pepper the world with this wisdom. What a relief to hear a levelheaded treatment of what should be glaringly obvious to all, but remains hidden behind walls of denial, enabling, self-interest, and power mongering. Please clone yourself, Jackson.

Spoiled by performance

I'm still at the beginning and I will keep listening because I know the author's work, his commitment and his generosity, so I trust the book will tell me much of his experience as an activist who speaks to men against gender violence. The only problem I have so far is the reading, incredibly monotonous and flat: despite the burning human content of the book, and despite the author's explicit warnings against becoming desensitized to this topic, he seems to be reading the news, I hear no difference in tone from the quotes, to the stories, to the arguments made in the book. I will power through, because as I said I need to know the content, but the reader is merely acknowledging the text and doesn't do much to make it compelling or engaging...

A much needed and valuable shift in perspective.

Jackson Katz clearly and concisely debunks the myth that men’s violence against women and girls is a ‘woman’s issue’ and whilst he acknowledges that women can, and do, have a role to play in recovery and awareness raising, for women and girls who have been or may potentially be, subjected to male violence, he is also very clear in stating that responsibility for prevention lies primarily with men and boys.
However, he does so in a way that presents this potential attitudinal and behavioural change as beneficial not only to women and girls, but also to boys and men themselves, and therefore for society more broadly.
Katz focusses on societal values, beliefs and long held misconceptions, not to let perpetrators ‘off the hook’ but to demonstrate that we cannot rely on change at an individual, personal level. The problem, and therefore the solution, must reach far beyond this.

Enlightening listen

Firstly, I’d like to say that I really did learn a lot from the author, I’ve found his work via a podcast interview and that led me to delve deeper.

It’s an enlightening listening experience but I have to say that I found the timbre of the narration a little difficult to stay engaged with. Maybe it’s because I’m an English man coming to the audiobook but for me it upbeat style belied the serious nature of the discussion.

Still I learnt a great deal that I will take away from this.