27 Comments
User's avatar
Doc Blue's avatar

I have already requested its purchase by the local PUBLIC library. Thank YOU, Doc. Doc.

Expand full comment
Michael Holstein's avatar

Good thought. There are 81 public libraries in Chicago. Someone is in charge of adoption for all the libraries, not only as hard copies but E-books as well.

Expand full comment
Michael Holstein's avatar

This is extremely good news. Congratulations to you and to all who read your book.

I will recommend it when and where I can. If you haven’t read it already (you obviously know many of the points made there) I recommend Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. Do a little something every day to get it out there. Imo, it would be very valuable for a variety of academic courses in several departments either as background reading or a main text. For one of the books I helped market, we sent out copies to appropriate teachers. Someone saw the book on a departmental bookshelf and ordered hundreds. Every term. I used to call likely adopters and ask if it was possible for them. If not, who might be a likely adopter.

At any rate, WTG!

Expand full comment
Jackson Katz's avatar

Thx very much, Michael! I agree wholeheartedly re the academic market. It's one of the (many) reasons why I insisted on a notes section, index and bibliography! Also, I'll chec out Kleon. thx for the reference. warmly from freezing MA, Jackson

Expand full comment
Michael Holstein's avatar

You are very welcome. And once you find an appropriate way of presenting your book to an academic market, you could enlist help from your family. That help could be in lieu of traditional gifts for special occasions. (I did not tell you this.) Be well, Michael

Expand full comment
Mars Le Fay's avatar

I will be reading your book from Oz, and hopefully discussing it with my ASD 13yo son. He is of an age where comments from his friends need to be shut down- and he does it! I want him to understand that he is not alone in this, and there will be many times as he grows that he will need to step up.

Expand full comment
Karin Hazel Newton's avatar

As a woman, I am so grateful for your work and your persistence. Just, thank you.

Expand full comment
Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Congratulations, Jackson. Someday we'll have to compare notes about the publishing-industrial complex in the US...thanks for all your good work. This sounds like a timely and necessary book.

Expand full comment
Jackson Katz's avatar

Thx, Elisa. I look forward to catching up!

Expand full comment
Natalie Call's avatar

I haven’t read the book (yet; I look forward to reading it). Just wanted to thank you for writing it, and the title is just so refreshing.

Expand full comment
Michelle Henry's avatar

Have ordered this book from the UK as a US reader. Very much looking forward to reading it. Thank you for your work and your voice!

Expand full comment
Teresa's avatar

Very excited to get my copy!

Expand full comment
Molly Strong's avatar

Thank you! 🙏🏼♥️

Expand full comment
XxYwise's avatar

Women perpetrate IPV at higher rates than men.

Do something about the real problem.

Expand full comment
Jackson Katz's avatar

"Women perpetrate IPV at higher rates than men."

This is badly misinformed, and likely due to a misreading or misunderstanding of some influential and early family violence research. Unfortunately, the so-called men's rights movement has (mis)used this research since the 1980s in their attempt to discredit the feminist-led movements against domestic and sexual violence. Men commit the vast majority of serious IPV. I have written about this in my first book The Macho Paradox, and in my recent book Every Man (out now in the UK, due out in Australia May 20, and in the US in September).

For now, here's just one example of the distortions the "men's rights" movement has promulgated:

The source of the highly misleading "women abuse men as often as men abuse women" argument is a careless (or deliberate) misinterpretation of data derived from the Conflict Tactics Scale, developed by the late sociologist Murray Strauss. The CTS counted acts of relational violence, but didn't account for offensive vs defensive violence, size and strength differentials, and other factors. In other words, a 6'2" inch, 240 pound man could slap and punch his 5'4" 145 pound wife, and if she scratched him in the process, according to the CTS, that's one act of violence by the man, one by the woman. Voila! Men and women are equally responsible for domestic violence.

Meanwhile, those of us living in the real world can see the devastation that men's violence against women causes in the lives of women, children, and other men. There is no equivalence. None. Nada. This is BS, and I won't let the comments section of my Substack be overtaken by diversionary tactics or nonsense.

Expand full comment
XxYwise's avatar

“There is increasing evidence to suggest that women commit as much or more IPV as men (Archer, 2000; Melton & Belknap, 2003). Among adolescents, research consistently shows that females perpetrate more acts of violence in intimate relationships than males (Arriaga & Foshee, 2004; Foshee et al., 1996; Hickman, Jaycox, & Aronoff, 2004; Lichter & McCloskey, 2004; Munoz-Rivas, Grana, O'Leary, & Gonzalez, 2007; Schwartz, O'Leary, & Kendziora, 1997; Spencer & Bryant, 2000; Wolfe et al., 2001).” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2663360/

Expand full comment
Jackson Katz's avatar

As I said, I’m not going to let this space become a place where we “debate” the very premise that men’s violence against women is the central problem, versus some gender neutral fantasy world in which damaged and difficult “people” hurt each other irrespective of gender. I’m not going to spend more time arguing over whether women’s violence against men is an equally serious problem. That is a ludicrous position and it’s been debunked by copious research and common sense for decades. A good summary is “Gender Symmetry” in Domestic Violence,” by Michael Kimmel. Journal of Violence Against Women, 2002.

To be clear: no one should be abused, period. I won’t defend abuse by anyone. Men who are victims of abuse deserve the same respect and access to services as women. But the attempt to minimize the global catastrophe of men’s violence against women by selective and misleading interpretations of data is not ok. And every minute I and others spend typing these words out is a minute we don’t have to devote to the larger fight in which women, children, and men all lose.

Expand full comment
XxYwise's avatar

“consistent with previous studies (e.g., Straus, 2008; Whitaker et al., 2007), there were many more couples characterized by female only aggression compared to male only aggression, which was quite rare in this sample. Categories were formed based on female reports, making it unlikely that classification was biased by traditional social desirability explanations (e.g., downplaying one’s own perpetration). Rather, findings add to a growing body of work confirming that female physical aggression exists in many college dating relationships even in the absence of any male physical aggression.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3100370/

Expand full comment
XxYwise's avatar

P.S. Let's see a cite for your ridiculous claim that the CTS ignores severity of violence/injury.

Expand full comment
William “David" Pleasance's avatar

And a women’s issue. Women orchestrate men’s violence OFTEN.

Expand full comment
Mary Krueger's avatar

How exactly do women “orchestrate” men’s violence?

Expand full comment
William “David" Pleasance's avatar

They (women) advertise their sexual availability, resulting in men competing with each other for the attention of said women, which can result in the men being violent with one another.

Expand full comment
Mary Krueger's avatar

In other words, women are responsible for men’s behavior.

And (of course) their own behavior.

What are MEN responsible for?

Expand full comment
William “David" Pleasance's avatar

Men are responsible for worshipping God. When they worship something else - idolatry - they are responsible for stopping. Men must stop worshipping women’s desires.

Expand full comment
Michael Holstein's avatar

I belong to our local Chinese Garden which is a world-class urban garden. They sent out a letter to all members to submit a proposal for a show in one of their two galleries. They wanted local artists, relevant material, a range of asking prices. Taking a chance, I submitted a proposal. After several convos, I was awarded a one-person show (my first) for the months of July & August! Moral/morale: You never know unless you try. I now do my exercises, breakfast, Great Courses Plus courses, and gallery prep first thing on getting up. No excuses for not doing them all every day in that order. Everything else can wait.

Expand full comment
Meg Smythe's avatar

Jackson—this is encouraging to increasing awareness about the absence of safety in the lives of every woman, girl, and boy’s lives. Women have screamed into the void ever since “When God Was a Woman.” (Book)

I’m guessing you experience moments when your steady efforts feel like the first drops in a very large, heretofore empty, bucket. Only when like-minded men take up the mantle, will The Void gain an audience. Jared Yates Sexton may be a good ally for you. He wrote The Man They Wanted Me to Be: Toxic Masculinity and a Crisis of Our Own Making.

Are you able to post links to your TEDx Talk and the other resources you mentioned?

Also, Audio/adaptive versions are critical for people who are or disabled, neurodivergent, and aural processors. Please consider adding audio to your upcoming book?

Finally, how do I get a copy if I don’t want to wait until September?

Thank you for being one of the modern pioneers in making the world safer for women, girls, boys, and ultimately, men.

Expand full comment