Stand By Your Manhood: An Essential Guide for Modern Men

by Peter Lloyd

Being a man is brilliant. Except for penile dysmorphia, circumcision, paying the bill, becoming a weekend father, critics who've been hating on us for, well, pretty much fifty years - oh, and those pesky early deaths.

Fortunately, Peter Lloyd is here to tackle the controversial topics in this fearless - and frequently hilarious - bloke bible, which was a Daily Mail Book of the Week.

Part blistering polemic, part politically incorrect road map for the modern man, Stand By Your Manhood answers the burning questions facing the brotherhood today: Should we fund the first date? Are we sexist if we enjoy pornography? Is penis size a political issue? And do feminists secretly hate us? Frank, funny and long overdue, this is the book men everywhere have been waiting for.

Genres: Sociology, Politics, Nonfiction, Psychology, Gender

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 27, 2014

About the author

Deftly proving that men can multi-task, Peter Lloyd is a London-based journalist who contributes to The Guardian, the Mail on Sunday, MailOnline and the Daily Telegraph. Originally from Liverpool, he was formerly the staff writer at Madonna's UK PR company, where he salsa danced with Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, got drunk with Depeche Mode and bonded with Russell Brand over The Smiths. He also worked as a freelance copywriter for Simon Fuller's 19 in Manhattan, New York.

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 1 out of 5]

Warning: Rant ahead, only semi-serious. I saw the title of this book and though it might be fun to buy for Christmas, a joke sort of present. Then I read the reviews (marked *** skip straight to them if you don't want a rant) by men who feel hard done by and have constructed an artificial world in their heads where women, "feminists" and their ilk have conspired to suppress men. I wish everyone was equal with equal opportunities.

Men who do not support women or whose religions have relegated women to a very subordinate role with very few rights to speak up lose the friendship of women. The best marriages are those where the partners are both lovers and friends. In relationships that are not equals one partner has to look out for themselves by pleasing and not offending the other one. This leads to women being manipulative and passive-aggressive because they cannot speak out freely. Why would any man want this?

This is a quote from the book, "“Being a man is brilliant…. Except for ... circumcision, paying the bill, becoming a weekend father… oh, and those pesky early deaths. Suicide isn’t much of a laugh either. Nor is paternity fraud, schools failing boys, military conscription, conception by deception, the criminal sentencing gap, coughing up 70 per cent of income tax, dominating homeless statistics…”

Circumcision - blame your mother AND father.

Suicide , you are blaming that on women? Still you aren't subject to "honour" killings.

Early death , women live longer than men, but not everywhere, this is recent, until the middle of the last century women died in childbirth. But it does seem to be built into the genes that women live longer. I wonder why evolution has selected for this?

Paternity fraud and conception by deception He means women getting pregnant and not having abortions when the men didn't want to be fathers and didn't take responsibility for their own contraception!

Schools failing boys Where exactly? Or is that since the 80s more and more girls are going on to university meaning boys now have a harder time getting in and affirmative action is needed to prevent women studying medicine, law etc. I actually heard this at my son's graduation from law school. That there were too many women in the profession and places out to be reserved for men. But the women find it harder to get traineeships in the law firms than do men...

Military conscription If you don't like it change the government. There is no government in the world that isn't dominated by men so it's other males making rules for males you don't like.

The criminal sentencing gap Men overwhelming commit more crimes than women and are more likely to be violent and commit murder in the course of crime and to be recidivist so what do you expect? Men and women by and large commit crimes for different reasons. Where the crime and reason is similar, like say shoplifting luxury goods, like phones etc. then yes, the punishment should be the same.

Paying up to 70% income tax. By the author writing this as a male thing, he is at the same time acknowledging women are paid less. The glass ceiling is still there! Those that do earn the same pay the same taxes so what's your problem?

Dominating homeless statistics I don't know why. Maybe because more men are alcoholics and gamblers because they had more free income at one point and lose their stability?

Weekend father - your choice sweetheart.
This is not to say some women don't use their children against men in a divorce. Right now I know of one guy who is only allowed supervised visits with his daughter because his ex-wife has accused him of molesting her. They lived in a rented flat before the divorce. She wanted him to buy her a house.... He didn't and this is the result. He has a pierced lip and locks, so the judge automatically assumes he is kind of a bad character. But he is a professional surveyor from a good family, he just likes that kind of look.

***Review 1 "Feminism and its false and dangerous but persistent narratives" "In this book Lloyd discusses many issues that affect men, including: the marriage trap, male contraception, fathers' rights, the vile practice of circumcision, men's health (and the minuscule amount of money spent on it in comparison to that of women), feminism and its false and dangerous but persistent narratives..."

He doesn't discuss female circumcision, forced marriage, the truth about how the standard for non-gendered medicine is male - heart attacks etc. Most women don't even know what the symptoms are for women, only for men.

***Review 2 "As a teenager I stopped reading women's magazines because of the way they treated men. "..A poor woman who was expecting a child from a rich tennis player who she had had a short encounter with in a restaurant. it made me feel very lonely that I was apparently the only one who did not see him as the bad guy (apart from cheating on his wife) but the 'mother' as someone not fit to raise a child. Still half a child myself I wondered what she would tell her daughter about how she was conceived. I also felt for the poor guy who had been tricked into becoming a father."

Boris Becker, married with two children, had a quickie on the stairs of a restaurant in London and didn't bother with a condom. It resulted in a daughter. The mother brought a paternity suit against Boris for maintenance of their child. What a wicked woman tricking poor Boris like that. Also his wife divorced him.

Will I get the book, read it and write a proper review? We'll have to see.
Btw I absolutely adore men and am in need of a special partner right now. Men with a large library and smile lines preferred.

[Karen Mcfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since people think men's human rights are a joke, Peter Lloyd's hilarious treatment of life & death issues seems apt

I took a human rights seminar at the politics department of my university in Potsdam/ Germany after a six week trip to Pakistan to visit my housemate from study abroad days in Nottingham/UK. Upon returning I had given a rather impromptu talk about the country in which poor and middle class men and women are struggling a midst chaos at a conference on human rights and religion. What I learned in said seminar was that suffering is gendered and the idea that men should have their humans rights protected is rather hilarious as the lecturer fell out into shrill laughter when I raised my arm and mentioned 'men' as a group of people who need human rights, after the usual suspects had been named (women, children, minorities). It was rather strange considering that before we had been speaking about boats of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean sea. And now all of a sudden the male lives in these tragedies were not worthy of protecting. Unfortunately at that time I did not have an answer when she asked me what sort of human rights men need. I mentioned the lack of father's rights which she seemed to acknowledge.

After the class I was left wondering why we apparently lack empathy towards men. I was not able to guess most of the men's issues which I am now rather familiar with. At that time I was just thinking that men don't become the despicable humans that family court views them as when they become fathers. Surely their mistreatment is because they are men and not because they are men with children. It was amidst the #yesallwomen campaign last spring, that made me ashamed to be a woman anywhere that men were around as I did not want to be associated with these harpies who were claiming that their lives were governed by their fear of men, that I found Warren Farrell's 'Myth of Male Power' and Paul Elam's youtube channel. Karen Straughan had been recommended to me before but at that time I was too worried of being accused of blasphemy if I shared her openly anti-feminist video. However, Warren Farrell and Paul Elam changed my life as they left me no option but to came out as in favour of men's rights and an end of the ideological treatment of gender issues as they articulated everything that I had witnessed in my 31 years on this planet earth. From thinking as a small child that adults were strange when a man had to sleep in his car until his wife would calm down but the social services would ask her how they could help her with her husband to as a teenager reading in my aunt's women's mags that women were oppressed while my aunt and grandma were shouting outside and my grandpa would quietly sit in a corner. From that time I stayed away from women's and girl's magazines until these sections started to encroach into the general news media. However, it was Boris Becker's case that made me treat everything that had gender written on it I encountered at university as toxic waste. Thus, I really enjoyed seeing it mentioned in Peter's book. It was a time before social media when tv and newspapers were flooded with the story of a poor woman who was expecting a child from a rich tennis player who she had had a short encounter with in a restaurant. it made me feel very lonely that I was apparently the only one who did not see him as the bad guy (apart from cheating on his wife) but the 'mother' as someone not fit to raise a child. Still half a child myself I wondered what she would tell her daughter about how she was conceived. I also felt for the poor guy who had been tricked into becoming a father. I honestly cannot begin to imagine the sense of betrayal and helplessness someone must feel in that situation. It is strange how our society has no empathy for men who get tricked into fatherhood but declares that there is a 'war on women' and that 'woman are forced to become pregnant' whenever there are attempts to make abortions more regulated (in particular in the US where it is practised in a way that shocks the most liberal European).

As I don't want to write my own book here but encourage you to read Peter's I will just summarize that what I liked most about the book is to see people who have questioned the ideological treatment of gender issues, such as Paul Elam and Warren Farrell, be treated with the respect they deserve for their work as well as the extraordinary sense of humour displayed throughout the book. Since I was already familiar with most of the issues that the book deals with I was wondering whether it was worth spending the money since no libraries have it at this early point. But already from the excerpts I knew that I would just enjoy it for the ingenious treatment of the English language. Perfectly countered the stereotype that scousers cannot be understood ;-)

It's a book that I will be coming back to again and again and can only recommend to every man and woman interested in the lives of our friends, brothers, fathers, uncles, grandfathers, work colleagues and those sitting across us on the tube, subway, metro or S-Bahn.

[Bobbie Darbyshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fresh approach to masculinity that debates penis size, lads’ mags, sex, marriage, contraception, parenthood, circumcision, societal norms, rape, health and lots more from the modern British man’s point of view.
Knee-jerk disparagement of men is commonplace these days. I see it on TV and depressingly regularly on Facebook, where I make a point of politely objecting to it. Sexism is ugly, stupid, unfair and harmful whichever sex is its victim and however mild or humorous a particular instance may appear to be. Ask yourself, would you smile if the same thing were said about women?
Journalist Peter Lloyd has predictably been attacked as misogynistic for this highly readable book, just as Matt Haig​ was Twitter-trolled recently for suggesting he might write on a similar theme. Lloyd and Haig are emphatically not misogynistic. Lloyd praises, extensively quotes and supports many feminist women in this book. He is not anti women; he is anti sexism. I am grateful to the feminist lesbian who recommended his book to me.
Man or woman, you almost certainly won't agree with everything in it. But may I prompt some of you to read it and think about it and do your careful best not to be sexist and your small bit to combat sexism against both your daughters and your sons?

[Zoubir · Rating 5 out of 5]

The anti-thesis of modern feminism. I found it by coincidence, read it in two days. It's the kind of books that we might disagree with its writer in many points, but it's so well written and compiled, it's a witty and funny read. It deserves a 5-star rating.

[Bernard O'Leary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bollocks

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even just looking through the reviews you see the problem. It's not unique to this book, but common to anything that's even remotely anti-SJW on this site or otherwise.

A decent amount of the top reviews are written by SJWs, who probably haven't even read the book, and certainly weren't willing to give it a fair shake. It's like the menreads book lists on this website; take a look at the comments, and you'll see endless complaining about the fact that it's FOR MEN. But, look at one of the thousands of lists for women, and you don't see anyone even mention the imbecilic idea that "Men read these books too!". It's irritating to no end.

I don't think this book is perfect. Far from it. But it gets the dialogue started from a man's perspective, something that is almost nonexistent today (especially with the Wizard Hunts going on across the West).

The main failure of the book is the (somehow controversial, but ultimately weak) idea of a male version of feminism described variously throughout the book as Meninism or Suffragents. Look at how feminists today behave. Do we really want that for men? Who doesn't have a horror story about a feminist girlfriend who screwed over the man just because she could (if you're like me, a college student, I'd bet my life savings you've heard a dozen terrible stories)? No self respecting person--certainly not a man--should identify with the feminist movement, especially not how its practiced today. It's little more than a misandrist organization, that is, they hate men (not only that, but they're proud of it). To be honest, it barely seems to even be about women (see the marches in New York where pro-life women were asked to leave).

Over identification with a group identity is a recipe for disaster. That goes for both men and women. What relevance is it to you that there have been Great Men who have accomplished amazing feats in the past? It's silly when the feminists do it, and it's silly when the men's activists (most of whom are women) do it too. It's nonsense.

Hell, as Lloyd points out, feminism is a business. They have no reason to solve any gender issues. Why would they make themselves irrelevant? I don't even think they could solve anything if they wanted to. You see it now with the trans debate, for instance. It's very hard to claim that women are oppressed when you can't define what a woman is (as a comedian said: Trump should, before he's elected, claim to be a woman. She'll be the first female president). As long as there is "The Patriarchy" out there, business is booming. There's no reason for men to follow that path. Mobs are a pathetic thing, feminist mobs doubly so, and meninist mobs triply so.

Rather, as Lloyd rightly points out towards the end, men should stand up for themselves, by themselves. I'm not going all Thoreau--or worse Rand--but an ideal man should stand on his own two feet. We don't need a movement. We just need individual courage. Say what you believe, whether it's popular or not (even if it puts you in the doghouse).

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stand by Your Manhood Good Reads Review

Who would have imagined that reading a book could cause so much trouble? When I read this my first thought was that I have been saying this for years and everyone has been treating me as though I haven't taken my meds.

I should first say that the the views expressed here are mine and mine alone, and not necessarily those of my employers. This may seem odd, but will be less so by the end of this piece.

I work for a government sponsored agency. You will soon guess which, but such is the current mood within my organisation I would be foolish to mention them. I attend a department meeting about once a month where we discuss health topics, and one of the recurring health topics is trying to encourage men to be pro-active about health matters. There have been loads of wheezes, but reading this book reinforced thoughts that I had been having about societal change perhaps being the solution. I then backed up this by mentioning content from the book, such as the bomb that went off and we were told about the dead women and children, but no mention was made of the dead men. I also spoke about how we screen women for breast and cervical cancer, but there is no reliable test for prostrate cancer, which is a killer of men. I went on to speak about the horrors of genital mutilation, whether it be to boys or girls. Some of the participants of the meeting joined in and most didn't, which is not unusual. The audience were mostly women.

The following day there was an online letter in the local rag about an event we have here where men do manly things like burning stuff, and women gather together in the kitchens and make food, have a yarn and serve the food to anyone that comes along. My experience has been that the men enjoy doing their stuff and women enjoy doing their stuff, but the letter was bemoaning the fact that like everything else in life women get the raw end of the deal, so I responded putting over much the same arguments as I had at the meeting, but adding in young men from UK council estates dying in the many wars we are waging around the world, whereas their female peers were not.

A week or so later I was called in before my line manager to be told that my role in department meetings was data support, and I was only to add agenda items with his approval, and also that there had been a complaint about what I had written in response to the online letter. Someone had gone to the trouble of finding out who my employer was to make an unofficial complaint about me, and my employer had decided that I should be warned off speaking about the subject again, despite the fact that I was not speaking about my organisation, never identified myself as a member of the organisation, was on my own computer, outside working hours on my own web connection. This is fairly typical of the pernicious attack against men. An attempt to silence us for having an opinion.

All must be fine with the political party of which I am a member surely? Well, no to honest. I discovered that my local branch has a Woman's Officer. I don't have a problem with that, but they obviously didn't enjoy the question, can you tell me who is the Man's Officer. Apparently I should know that women have more issues than men. I decided that this must be a local quirk of my party, but no, on a national level there is a Woman's Group, but no Man's Group.

Whatever realm of life you look into you will see men being shafted. Women complain about glass ceilings, but never the glass floor that saves them from working in roles like driving and operating trucks that empty cesspits. If women are under-represented in an area they want to be it's men keeping them down. If men are under-represented the excuse of "this occupation mainly attracts women" is trotted out. Women claim to want equality but when it comes to the disadvantages of retiring at the same time as men.

All men should read this book, and then campaign for equality.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought about writing a longish, personal review about why this book is important to me, but then I remembered that (like most men) I'm not an exhibitionist, so I'll just talk about the book. Mr. Lloyd first came to my attention when I saw a clip of him being interviewed, and ridiculed, on a women's talk show for writing a book for men. That alone suggested I would want to read it. In this book Lloyd discusses many issues that affect men, including: the marriage trap, male contraception, fathers' rights, the vile practice of circumcision, men's health (and the minuscule amount of money spent on it in comparison to that of women), feminism and its false and dangerous but persistent narratives, and how society and media make us feel about our bodies. In a somewhat lighter section, Lloyd offers take-downs of various celebrities for the stupid things they've said in public, such as the insufferable, hypocritical Emma Watson ("Men aren't stupid and don't need a masterclass in equality from some 25 year-old." Yes! Thank you!) But it isn't all Lloyd's show; he also includes frequent contributions from experts in law, sociology, and medicine--many of them women and some of who identify themselves as feminists (probably the "good kind.")

Criticisms are minor; its populist tone is a little out of line with the seriousness of its subject matter, but if it gets more people to read it then that's a good thing. And I vehemently disagree with his hideous suggestion that only childfree people should be eligible for the draft. But that's just one point in the entire book.

Although the cover calls it a guide for men, I think it is equally--perhaps even more--important for women to read. None of this stuff is being talked about anywhere else, not in any authoritative sources anyway, and it needs to be. The other day I was talking to a friend about a new documentary that feminists are trying very hard to suppress (to the point of wanting to keep the director out of the country), and while she expressed interest in seeing the film, she said the thought the men's rights activists were "a joke." If you read this book, and are in any way fair-minded, you won't see men's rights as a joke any more. (Update: This person also turned into a C0vid Cultist, and is no longer a friend.)

[Lars-Christian Elvenes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this one up more or less based on the title as I browsed the shelves of one of my local bookstores. Had not heard of it, and so I had no expectations.

Turns out it's a really good book. From a variety of angles, it looks at how men are being put down compared to women, and most importantly how it seems to be "ok" to do so. At certain points funny, at other points very serious. Especially when looking at health. The book is primarily focused on the UK, so I'll have to find out for myself what the numbers are for Norway (as well as cultural differences), but that was an eyeopener. If the numbers hold true, and the same situation happens here, that significantly less money and time is spent on men's health issues when compared to women's, that is a problem.

On the more humorous side, just about everyone has heard a joke regarding men's sizes down there, or seen a sitcom (or movie or other) where the women are talking and "he couldn't get her excited", "couldn't get her off", "couldn't get it up", "was small", etc. Try turning this around and make it two guys talking about a girl and see how often you see that conversation. Rarely, right? And would it be considered socially acceptable? Probably not.

I think the main takeaway from the book is a bit more awareness of the way men are portrayed in our culture was the most important. How many men actually really relate when they watch King of Queens or Everybody loves Raymond (which is beyond me, because it's the worst show in history)? What if we turned the roles around here. Would it be ok to have a sitcom with a hardworking Dad and a deadbeat mom who can't do a single thing right?

4 out of 5 starts simply because I feel at times the author tries a bit too hard to create funny puns in his writing, or at times stretches a wee bit when making associations. When you do that, you really need to have references, and they're not in the book. A companion site to the book would have been great, where you could go and check out the different case studies, references, as well as other important information from the book.

Definitely worth a read, especially if you're a guy, and certainly if you're a girl as well.

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag. On the one hand, there was a lot of thought-provoking elements to this book, a discussion of the ways in which men in society supposedly have it hard and face disadvantage. Many of the aspects which the author speaks about did strike a chord with me (as they were intended to do) and there was quite a lot which certainly was eye-opening and insightful. Some parts were stronger than others, but often 'what would happen if this affected women instead of men?' did stand as a valid point.

On the other hand, I did find it a little troublesome in places as a concept. It's valid to highlight the ways in which men have it harder than women but (just as in feminist books making the point in the opposite direction) I was very aware that it is relatively easy to provide examples which prove your point, and ignore examples or arguments which go against the theme of one sex/gender having a supposedly unfair disadvantage. In addition, the tone did frequently stray into slightly misogynistic areas and in doing so risks comes over as bad as the 'man hating feminist' stereotype so criticised during women's fight for equality. This made me wonder about addressing an imbalance by doing more to help one gender as opposed to actively hindering the gender that is more fortunate.

For all this, I think the author made a lot of interesting and valid points. However, perhaps the message is "women through feminist movements have spoken well about addressing the ways in which they seek equality - men have not been as active and capable in movement to address the less acknowledged ways in which they are disadvantaged" as opposed to a blunt statement along the lines of snowflakes and men being subjugated because you can't even sexually harass your secretary like you could fifty years ago.

[Andrew Vongkavivathanakul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much Better than Counseling

Really put things in perspective and help cope with my current situation. Im comforted by the fact that im not alone and others have been through much much worse.

[Sean Liddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally a book for the modern man who shouldn't be ashamed of being a man in the modern world!

[Vipin Singh Sehrawat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad at all!

[Serhio Anatolievich · Rating 4 out of 5]

All these 1 stars from Women - heartbreaking.

[Terence Orr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, everything I’ve been observing captured in a book. Funny too!

[Andrew Anyetei · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good book and it’s the first one I actually finished and I have to say this book really is a game changer for men in modern society, not to mention funny too. It highlights issues that men face but often ignored because of gynocentrism where female life is valued more than male and feminists fear it would undermine the victim narrative they place on society. It also make me become more aware of issues that I never thought of such as marriage, paternity fraud and it highlighted on how of feminising men can backfire e.g. the David Reimer story. However, I would like to point out why this book did not mention in depth about the concept of virginity on how women are praised and viewed as saints while men are shamed and viewed as outcasts. Other than that, I enjoyed this book, highly recommend read for men and women.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Lloyd is right on the money about the issues of men and how they are being ignored. This is why men like myself have become mgtow because we refuse to participate in this biased system. The herbivore men in Japan started it and this is the sequel as he said in the book. I would encourage all men to read because this stuff men should know and the left wing media and left wing politicians will never tell you. They want men to keep on being slaves to the system and the state. That's the truth and they are really twisted.

[Peter Siskos · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read and though humorous confronting

This is one of the most important books written in a long time. It's a big statement I know however deep down, even if we don't want to 'whinge' or acknowledge it, we know men are being attacked, more and more blatantly each day. Quite frankly we've been had, mainstream society certainly does not have our best interests at heart and this very important book sets it out, with statistics to back it up. You might find that by the book's end, your self esteem will be higher than it was when you began reading it.

[Johari Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for every man as it demonstrates the plight of men in western society and their lack of rights on many issues.
This isn't a woman bashing book (as they definitely have their own issues too), so let's hope many women read this and that it springboards these topics into the spotlight as it isn't us vs. them as we're all in this together.

[TJ Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you think that women should write and have books that analyze the different ways that policy, society and culture harms them and gives them bad outcomes, then you should be in support of men writing the same thing for men. All my progressive friends that I've told about this book have become immediately hostile to the idea of it. And I felt a certain apprehension reading at work. I support first and second wave feminism, equality feminism, as Christina Hoff Sommers calls it. And I think it's great when women identify ways that they are getting short changed, and identify reforms that would better support them. I support that exploration because I support the success and flourishing of women. I find myself disappointed that the same support is very rarely mustered in the other direction. Progressives are incredulous that a book makes the case that in a number of ways society, policy, and culture might be short-changing men, harming them. I guess the conversation about gender has become tribal, or religious. Of course women are always the victims, of course any complaints by men is an attack against women. This is all so obvious that no evidence is needed.
I heard a number of poignant and simple truths for the first time in this book. Truths that I needed to hear. I agree with the author, feminism is not the movement that will attend to the challenges and deficits that men face. We need our own movement. While the feminist movement has done a lot of good for women and society, some feminists are sexists. The reluctance of the broader feminists movement to denounce feminists who constantly trash men, makes them complicit in that treatment, and makes it harder for men to support the movement. The author observed that no boy is ever born ashamed of their penis, but most men end up feeling shame later in life.
I hadn't noticed that as a gender, men have lost the right to pre-trial anonymity when it comes to charges of rape, at least in the age of social media and #metoo. And while falsely accused men might be vindicated by the legal system, there's no vindication on google, or social media. I was horrified to hear about the 500 court cases of paternity fraud that typically happen a year in the UK. It's troubling to find out that the court system is so corrupted by these bad ideas, that not one woman has ever been convicted of this expensive type of fraud despite there being overwhelming proof.
The author changed my mind about circumcision. I hadn't heard about the later life complications, nor how many times it goes wrong, nor how many babies die.
This was a good book. The author brought a lot of compassion to men's issues, compassion that has slowly disappeared from our societies. I would criticize the book for being too heavy with the jokes and cultural references. Sometimes it was multiple references I didn't get per paragraph. I was interested in the data, the interviews, the dots he was connecting. I wish the book was a bit cleaner, and more focused on the information.
I like how the author showed time and again, unequal treatment of men and women. All the Nigerian village boys killed by Boko Haram that didn't make the news, only the kidnapping of the girls. The mistreatment, the endless gut wrenching shaming of Jude Law after he did a nude photo shoot. All the breast, ovarian and cervical cancer screenings included by the NHS while there's no screenings for prostate cancer and it kills 4 times as many men as cervical cancer does.
Great book. Woman have had power over our policies and our cultural attitudes for generations now. And sometimes all that hard-driving advocacy has come at the cost of others. Women were historically marginalized. Women still don't have a society that perfectly serves their needs. But increasingly, because men haven't stood up for themselves, neither do men. It's time we started speaking up and naming our grievances.

[Dan Briscoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its an extremely eyeopening read, covering lots of topics from the seemingly trivial to the outright huge. The author has you take a much more in depth look at being a man in todays society, its not as fantastic as were told it is and after reading this im seeing more and more that the media, and indeed goverment and health care do seem to put men and unfortunately boys to the back of the queue in a lot of quite important and perhaps life altering areas which I wont spoil by listing here.

This book is not the misogynists bible that im sure some would believe and want you to believe too, it simply shines a light on what its like to be male in an increasingly female focused world.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and informative!

An entertaining read.
A great summary of the key issues facing many men today.
Didn't get all the UK based humour but the facts and arguments are clear!

[Zel Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

"I'm scared of Germaine Greer!" ah book. I would rather read Beowulf from beginning to end with no translation, to be honest.

[Lewis Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think at its core, this book does raise some very interesting questions and points, with regular chime-ins from experts on both sides of the debate allowing for many compelling chapters and segments.

The biggest letdown however is how ridiculous some other chapters/sections are, which completely harms the authenticity of the author. For example, he declares the attacks/censorships on pornography a deliberate and intentional attack on male sexuality, which in of itself is a ludicrous simplification of such a complex issue. Then, to back up his point, he quotes some experts to reinforce his opinion on the evils of obscuring pornography from the public eye. Who are these experts? Pornography directors.

Furthermore, the authors tone often comes across snobby with the drive of a know-it-all. While this works in most sections due to well thought out points reinforced with impactful quotes and case studies, it looks incredibly foolish when he so confidently asserts such an uninformed or illogical point. The best example which comes to me being the fact that he declares Weimar Germany as a paradise due to how free and expressive a society it was before Nazi reign. As someone interested in the period, to praise the time as a utopia in tolerance and acceptance is laughable.

Finally, many of the authors ideas and recommendations contradict each other, which convinces me that he’s very intelligent in formulating content regarding the individual issues but less so in solutions and the wider picture. A good example of this would be how he emphasises the important of the marriage union in encouraging equality and understanding of the sexes through a familial bond… to then later praise and encourage readers to join MGTOW (Men Go Their Own Way) and also praises the spreading of a culture which encourages casual sexual relations. This trend of contradicting and changing his mind on recommendations is common throughout the book.

Despite my issues, I do think he raises many, many useful points and ideas which I would definitely recommend others to read to become better versed on why there’s certainly issues men face each day on a monumental scale, worthy of attention in much the same level given to women’s side. Therefore I’d feel harsh giving 2*, so I think 3 is fair along with the possibility I will recommend certain chapters in the future to others interested in this topic.

[Kyle Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is almost quite nearly the most perfect book of all time.