Androphilia – A Review
I took my time wallowing with giddy enthusiasm in the heady passages that have enflamed many reviewers and people who patently missed the point of the book known as Androphilia: A Manifesto. Anything that makes people that upset has to be doing something right as this is usually a signal that it’s making people think uncomfortable things about themselves and the world around them that they’ve lazily accepted.
More importantly, Jack Malebrache’s book is unapologetically about reclaiming sexuality and defining male-to-male sexual relations and ideal relationships that are bound in that and what it all means – selfishly and more importantly without the prejudices and castrating influences of Feminism and The Gay Movement.
It’s a liberating read, empowering each person who reads it (should they not slip into comfortable paths of victimhood) to accept, define, and move past convention. While I can see how people could easily jump to conclusions and call this book a manifesto born out of self-loathing, but then they’d be doing a disservice to the words, message and ultimately themselves.
This would be old thinking – or simply victim mentality. Androphilia has a fresh, often objective, view that asks us to reexamine masculinity, and forces us to challenge ourselves and our place in the world. In reading Androphilia, we are asked to challenge the concept that sexuality isn’t a biologically determined construct, but a chosen one, sighting that we didn’t choose to be straight but chose to find happiness in the company of men. Secondly, we are to face the gay community and give it a big middle finger for dictating how we should behave, what we should believe, and how to assume a “gay identity”. Powerful, powerful stuff which is something I totally understand and respect why these are important steps in taking off the yoke of the Gay Party and cease being victims and nicely dovetails with all the bullshit I personally had umbrage with when the gay bar rags and other gay publications wrote about “gay skinheads” citing me and my friends as something that “doesn’t exist” because we didn’t fit neatly into a cute, inoffensive pink box.
Androphilia confirms and embraces everything that men who are sick of the gay community are out there looking for and everyone should read it, regardless of where our affections lie.
Find the book here, the author’s blog to the right in my blogroll, and when you’ve finished reading Androphilia participate in the forum.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
[...] From Drub’s World [...]
November 8th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Hmm, haven’t read (or even heard of) the book yet, but my interest is definitely piqued. From your words however, I have to disagree with one point. FEELING attraction to men is not a choice and I feel quite strongly that it is at least partially based in biology. EMBRACING that desire to love men is however a choice that we are all better off deciding in favor of. Maybe that’s something in line with what the author is saying, but I’ll have a firmer opinion about that once I’ve read it, I’m sure.
November 8th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
I’d definitely give it a go. It’s totally worth reading and really helps articulate what so many gay men are frustrated with.
I’m not so sure anymore that sexuality is a point of biology. There’s no scientific proof, and asking for such is like believing in god. You have to have faith or believe in it simply because there isn’t anything solid to go on. I think Mr. Malebrache really lays it out in a plain and simple theory that makes more sense than anything shoveled to us by gay activists, media, and so-called experts. You feel what you feel, sure, but aren’t those feelings no more complex than say, loving chocolate chip ice cream? You’re not genetically disposed to liking a flavor of ice cream so why should we blow up sexuality to be more than what it is? A simple choice or preference.
Anything more than this makes us sound like we are out of control and not in charge of our ability to make choices.
Don’t get me wrong, I think biology is the impulse but how we process that impulse is where the choice comes in.
There is nothing wrong with the female body and I’ve never understood the campy revulsion that so many typical queens would hide behind, but I think the plus sides to the attractiveness of the male body and the bond between two men to completely overshadow anything I could possibly have with a woman.
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:53 am
“…we are asked to challenge the concept that sexuality isn’t a biologically determined construct, but a chosen one, sighting that we didn’t choose to be straight but chose to find happiness in the company of men.”
It sounds very intriguing and a book I’ll definitely be adding to my reading list. Anything to challenge the “sterotypes” has to be given a go. Thanks for the info.