Matt B Gets Lit reviewed The Male Gazed by Manuel Betancourt
Review of 'The Male Gazed' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I didn’t like this book.
Initially, the problem was my approach. I assumed this was academic nonfiction, and as a result, I was annoyed there was so much sociological theorizing with no notes. Where are the citations? It's obvious the author is a well-educated person, with multiple mentions of books and constant use of overly complicated (or, as the author would say, "sesquipedalian") words, but all the references felt anecdotal. I would have appreciated a Works Cited page.
I went back to the book description: "collection of essays." But even then, after each essay, I thought, What was the thesis? What are the rebuttals? Did I learn something from this? What was the author's motivation in presenting this "study" to me? The answers weren't always clear. I finished the book, uncertain I had come away from it with anything new.
I went back to the subtitle: "...what pop culture taught …
I didn’t like this book.
Initially, the problem was my approach. I assumed this was academic nonfiction, and as a result, I was annoyed there was so much sociological theorizing with no notes. Where are the citations? It's obvious the author is a well-educated person, with multiple mentions of books and constant use of overly complicated (or, as the author would say, "sesquipedalian") words, but all the references felt anecdotal. I would have appreciated a Works Cited page.
I went back to the book description: "collection of essays." But even then, after each essay, I thought, What was the thesis? What are the rebuttals? Did I learn something from this? What was the author's motivation in presenting this "study" to me? The answers weren't always clear. I finished the book, uncertain I had come away from it with anything new.
I went back to the subtitle: "...what pop culture taught me about (desiring) men." And there it is. "Me." These are personal recollections and thoughts. Instead of examining conventional beauty standards and why such standards exist (which is what I thought the book would be about), or even the history of how men have or haven't been gazed upon by society at large, the author instead writes at length about his own attractions and what it means for him to desire men. Which is fine, I suppose; it just didn't come across as very interesting.
Two final thoughts: 1, The author can't write a straight sentence, pun intended. Every paragraph is full of parentheses, asides, and em dashes. It was so distracting, I found myself having to re-read sections to understand what the main point of the passage was. 2, I know photos cost extra, but this book really should have sprung for a few. The entire book is about pop culture, yet does not include a single photograph for reference. Every time there was a mention of a movie, TV show, advertisement, magazine cover, artistic photo, etc., I had to stop reading and search for it online.