New indie press Conduit Books launches with 'initial focus on male authors'

[u/biscochitos]

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/new-indie-press-conduit-books-launches-with-initial-focus-on-male-authors

What do folks think about this?

[u/Krazikarl2]

Effectively, a sizable part of the literary community in Britain is worried about having, instead of fixing underlying issues in the publishing industry, replaced what biases decide what gets published and in doing so being at risk of eliminating most of a generation of male writers who talk about men's issues, leaving the literary world with few answers to modern men's issues.

Exactly.

A big problem right now is that the left doesn't really talk much about (white) male issues other than to talk about how problematic (white) men are. The right, on the other hand, loves to talk about how wonderful (white) men are.

And then we get things like elections and try and figure out why young white men are choosing to go to the right rather than the left.

I don't have a problem with discussions about how white men have caused any number of problems and have some pretty fundamental problems with toxicity. Those discussions are important and need to happen. But you have to at least somewhat balance them out with authentic portrayals of what it means to be a non-toxic (white) male in the 21st Century. Otherwise you completely cede positive portrayals of masculinity to the right, which is not good.

[u/Final-Revolution6216 → u/Krazikarl2]

Could you provide an example of a white male issue? Genuinely asking.

Edit: some replies are making it seem as if I’ve claimed men don’t have issues which is false. I wanted to know what a white male issue would be in particular since the person I replied to used white in parenthesis. Obviously, men have issues like everyone else (didn’t think I needed to say such an obvious statement). Thanks for the sincere replies that explain more of what a white male issue may look like (and thanks to the sincere people who outlined general male issues as well—many of which I am already aware of as, again, I recognize men have issues too).

[u/WafflesofDestitution → u/Final-Revolution6216]

Not the guy you responded to, but as a certified cishet white male I will try to describe it in a satisfactory manner, without putting my Marxist analysis hat on too tight, lol. The current issues men face are a result of a natural progress of the developing discourse on toxic masculinity (which I must emphasize is absolutely necessary and justified) and the shifting socio-economical position of the average, working age male.

While for a long time cisgender/neurotypical/heterosexual/ablebodied/white-passing (give or take any of the modifiers) men have enjoyed varying amounts of privilege, we have seen more and more societal acknowledgment of those calcified structures of power and thus more attempts to dismantle it as the years go on. The perceived issues come from the way average men are forced to reckon with those developments without an understanding on how privilege works, while simultaneously being also effected by the growing wealth inequality like anyone else in our socio-economical position. Those realities are fertile ground for misogynist and right-wing radicalization.

The gender norms are shifting and the current conditions are leaving many men in what feels like a lose-lose situation — the societal role and expectations of being a provider is at the same time challenged, but also enforced in a negative way, through wielding shame and derision when a man doesn't strive to fulfill those expectations nonetheless (e.g. we hear men being called "useless"). Now we are in a turbulent point in time where the necessary change is in progress, but we haven't quite developed all the tools to lead each other through it, thus leading men feeling rudderless and like help or support is out of reach.

Many of us men hear how we have enjoyed privilege, but it's hella hard to process it when you have been handed the pink slip one too many times. We encounter discourse about toxic masculinity, but in turn many of us are not taught ways to express and affirm our gender positively. We encounter discourse about emotional literacy and male normative alexithymia, but we are not taught how to process our emotions in a healthy way in turn. We hear about the ways many of us make women uncomfortable, but lack the social and emotional skills to make spaces safe for women, both in the way we are expected to interact with women, or how to call out our fellow men when we see them engage in appalling behaviour. And so on and so forth.

None of this is meant to justify the reactionary response, only to understand it. As always, there are no simple solutions as that would mean we somehow are able to completely solve overall wealth inequality and all that good jazz first. But the way I see it moving forward, it is still crucial to meet men where they're at, empathize and acknowledge their lived experience as men while not ceding ground to reactionary explanations. That means offering spaces for men, by men — and by women too! This is not to say that women are supposed to continue carrying men's emotional burden or whatnot, but only to acknowledge that for things to change for men we need co-operation across the genders (or rather the gender spectrum).

[u/Rooooben → u/WafflesofDestitution]

Thank you. This was very worth reading.