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  • The Will to Change

  • Men, Masculinity, and Love
  • By: bell hooks
  • Narrated by: Janina Edwards
  • Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (236 ratings)

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The Will to Change

By: bell hooks
Narrated by: Janina Edwards
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Summary

Everyone needs to love and be loved - even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch with their feelings, from loving. In The Will to Change, bell hooks gets to the heart of the matter and shows men how to express the emotions that are a fundamental part of who they are - whatever their age, marital status, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

But toxic masculinity punishes those fundamental emotions, and it’s so deeply ingrained in our society that it’s hard for men to not comply - but hooks wants to help change that.

With trademark candor and fierce intelligence, hooks addresses the most common concerns of men, such as fear of intimacy and loss of their patriarchal place in society, in new and challenging ways. She believes men can find the way to spiritual unity by getting back in touch with the emotionally open part of themselves - and lay claim to the rich and rewarding inner lives that have historically been the exclusive province of women. A brave and astonishing work, The Will to Change is designed to help men reclaim the best part of themselves.

©2003 Gloria Watkins (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio
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What listeners say about The Will to Change

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just exquisite!

fantastic commentary on the intricacies of the emotional worlds of men and how all people can contribute to the emotional wellbeing of all people - love being, in itself, a revolutionary act!

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Great book

Well written by bell hooks. Think every women should read this book. Wish I read it sooner.

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A Book That Should Be Read By Everyone

This book lays out the major problem standing in the way of thinking more freely and lovingly about ourselves: white supremecist capitalist patriarchy. It makes clear that masculinity is not synonymous with patriarchy. Following on from the liberation and right to voice and autonomy that feminism brought women, feminism needs to enter into a new stage: one in which we celebrate and explore masculinity in its wide-spanning variety of forms, and create safe, loving spaces, where men can feel, express and be, as well as heal from the ways in which patriarchy has taught them to silence, repress and compartmentalise their selves. This book has encouraged me to turn to live as a strategy, and to remember that women, men and people of all genders need eachother. Let's leave no one behind!

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Powerful tool to think about masculinity

bell hooks offers amazing insights about the importance of providing a loving space for boys and men so we can all heal from patriarchy. It’s a cis-heterormative language that can be easily translated to more queer understandings (bell was not gender critical, so there is space for dialogue). A book everyone should read at least once in their lives ♥️

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Amazing read!

One of the few books that address masculinity from a feminist perspective. Easy to read and relatable!

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Highly recommend

Beautifully written & well spoken.

This is something for everyone not just men as some of the recommendations suggest.

Illuminating and affirming the stuggles I see in society and my own life concerning the position of men, their masculinty and relation to women.

There is solution that seems so simple yet rarely practiced.

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Exceptional and required

What an amazing book by Bell Hooks. I only wish I heard these words many years ago.

This books provides a history of male behaviour and past traumas. Then she tells us how we might look at things and change our behaviour in order to be better men, good men and more in tune with our emotions, selves and others around us.

Can not recommend this enough.

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Content

Thought provoking and so much truth written within this book, I will have to listen again as I want to truly understand some of the things she spoke about.

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Excellent despite its limitations.

Core arguments excellent & still what we need to know (some fuzzy thinking in details).

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Necessary and Enlightening for Men and Women Alike

Wonderfully read, I could hear bell hooks’ narrative voice clearly and felt her presence throughout. I can’t stress enough how important the themes of this book are and how revolutionary it could be for men and women to read this and carry the message with them. Highly recommend to anyone considering listening!

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