XY: men, masculinities, and gender politics

(See below for an update on our efforts to raise funds to redesign and extend this site.)

XY is a website focused on men, masculinities, and gender politics. XY is a space for the exploration of issues of gender and sexuality, the daily issues of men's and women's lives, and practical discussion of personal and social change.

XY is one of the best online resources on men and gender issues. XY features 200 or so articles on key 'men's issues', from fathering and men's health to the relationships between masculinity, class, race and sexuality, to domestic violence. XY also includes personal stories, book reviews, and links to related websites.

XY is guided by three principles: pro-feminism, a commitment to enhancing men's lives, and a recognition of diversities among men. XY starts from the belief that many of our society's attitudes about masculinity are harmful to men and boys in a variety of ways, as well as being oppressive to women and children. XY is a forum for men who are seeking to build life-affirming, joyful, and non-oppressive ways of being.

XY began life as a printed magazine, published in Canberra (Australia) four times a year from 1990 to 1998. The magazine was titled XY: Men, Sex, Politics. We published 397 feature articles in 26 editions of the magazine.

This website contains over 60 of the best articles from the original printed magazine. But the XY website is more than this. XY is an online resource of articles, discussion, and links. New articles are regularly added to the website.

Help support XY

We are redesigning and extending the XY website. And we need money to do
it. So we're asking for your help.We want to move to a proper system of content management, add a multi-author blog, simplify the process for adding articles and links, and make other changes. We've been quoted $5,000 Australian (approx $3,900 US) to redesign the website. XY is run by two people at the moment, and we'll put in as much money of our own as we can. But we can't afford this much.

Any contribution, no matter how small, will be gratefully accepted. Please use the Paypal button to make your donation - it's simple and secure. Thanks for your support!

UPDATE: We've received a number of donations, for which we are enormously grateful. However, we are still far short of our target - please do help if you can.

Thank you so much to the following people for their donations:
John Stoltenberg
Ben Atherton-Zeman
Scott Kiefer
(And several others who opted not to be listed.)

Michael Flood and Gerry Orkin

recently added

Involving Men in Efforts to End Violence Against Women (Talk and Powerpoint presentation, both in PDF): An outline of strategies for the primary prevention of violence against women, focused on engaging and working with men. By Michael Flood.

Boys, Sex, and Porn: New technologies and old dangers (Talk and Powerpoint presentation, both in PDF): Michael Flood examines boys’ and young men’s consumption of sexually explicit media. Argues that boys’ use particularly of internet pornography, combined with the wider pornographication of popular culture, is exacerbating violence-supportive social norms and intensifying some boys’ participation in sexual abuse.

Violence against men and women in Australia - What the Personal Safety Survey can and can't tell us about domestic violence. By Michael Flood. (PDF)

Fathers' Rights and Violence Against Women - Conference presentation by Michael Flood, Refocusing Women’s Experiences of Violence, Sydney, 14-16 September. (Word)

Fathers' Rights and Family Law - A critical assessment of the impact of fathers' rights groups on family law and their claims regarding violence. Seminar by Michael Flood, Women’s Legal Service Victoria, Melbourne, 4 August 2005. (Word)

"I am a woman. My screams are silent." – By Brian Rowe.

How the fathers' rights movement betrays victims of violence and protects perpetrators – By Michael Flood.

Are men evil? Reflections on the tactics and motivation of men’s rights advocates – By Stephen Fisher.

Can men be the allies of feminism? – Yes, argues Indian writer Nighat Gandhi.

Starting your own group for men against sexism. – By basil shadad

Men and Family Relationships National Forum – A response. – Danny Blay describes the women-blaming and neglect of family violence at this recent Australian conference.

Promoting the Positive Roles of Fathers. This excerpt from Michael Flood’s report describes five steps to involved fatherhood.

What’s Wrong With a Presumption of Joint Custody? This excerpt from Michael Flood’s report discusses the problems with a rebuttable presumption of joint custody, and describes the broader context for these debates.

Fatherlessness. This excerpt from Michael Flood’s report provides an assessment and critique of the claims made by fathers’ rights groups and others about ‘fatherlessness’ and ‘male role models’.

Daddy, Do Better – Richard Jones on how ‘daddy’s girls’ changed his life.

Men, Gender, and Development (Development Bulletin, No. 64, March 2004).

Lads in Latex? Why young heterosexual men don’t use condoms (Impact, London-based journal of the National AIDS Trust, October 2003).

Backlash: Angry men's movements
Michael Flood assesses the men's rights and fathers' rights movements.

more articles

Men and Gender Equality: Resistance, Responsibilities and Reaching Out – Jeff Hearn considers the implications for men of developing gender equality and the challenges that this presents.

Homosociality – Hugo Schwyzer writes on male acceptance and approval.

The Measure of a Man – Richard Jones calls for measuring a man by where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Us and Them – Jim Hines on ‘bad guys’ and ‘good guys’.

The Porn Debate – Stan Goff writes that pornography represents the eroticised degradation of women.

Just a John? Pornography and men’s choices – Robert Jensen

Understanding Men’s Versus Women’s Intimate Partner Violence – Kerrie James.

False Accusations of Rape – Jim Hines

Sex Crimes Can't be Blamed on Victims – Jim Hines

Backlash: Angry men's movements
Michael Flood assesses the men's rights and fathers' rights movements.

The politics of fathers' rights activists
The hate speech and extremism of fathers' rights groups. (Word

International Men's Day: An open letter of rejection
Why International Men's Day is a bad idea.

Boys, Young Men and Gender Equality – Michael Flood provides an overview.

 

design by gerry orkin.

other features

The XY website has a huge links page, organised by category. You can help by reporting broken links and suggesting new ones here.

XY hosts The Men's Bibliography, a comprehensive bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender, and sexualities.

contributions

XY is keen to expand the range and number of articles on our website. Please feel most welcome to contribute your articles, writings and talks to XY. Your piece is likely to be published if it follows these simple guidelines.

Slogans and quotes
Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart. -- Caryn Leschen