Let's see... -The first three are all the same; basically the message is "A normal male body isn't good enough, you need to look like you take steroids":
#1 Men's Health® Hard Body Plan
#2 The Abs Diet Eat Right Every Time Guide
#3 The Body Sculpting Bible for Men
And next comes...
#4 Women, Sex and Dating for the Single Man: aka: "Why aren't you married yet, something must be wrong with you."
#5 Essential Manners for Men aka: "Learn how to act like a woman."
#6 Looking for Mr. Right ...as in, "it mentions men, it must be a match!"
#7 A Man, a Can, a Plan aka: "Men can't cook, except maybe with cans! "
#8 Life with Jeeves: The Inimitable Jeeves, Very Good Jeeves! and Right Ho, Jeeves ...Umm - maybe aka: "I could be really cool if I either HAD a servant with a bitter sense of humor who had no life of his own, or if I WAS a servant with a bitter sense of humor who had no life of his own." Actually, the latter sounds very much like my life, given what the courts are doing to me, and the two jobs me and my new wife are both doing to support the court orders against me.
#9 I'm with Stupid The cover shows Adam and Eve, and Eve is pointing at Adam. ...Haw Haw Haw... (choke)
and, #10, wait for it.....
#10 Stop Getting Dumped!: All You Need To Know To Make Men Fall Madly In Love With You and Marry 'The One' In 3 Years or Less ...Hmmm, perhaps this showed up because there is a sentence about how you need to distract the poor potential spouse from all those "Men's Rights" that he will be losing.
Perhaps someone says "NOT FAIR! - I bet a search on women's rights would turn up matches just as ridiculous!" Well, I was never one to leave a good turn un-stoned: Searching "Women's Rights" turns up: (I am leaving the links intact so you can go look at them, I am not going to comment on them here, except to note that they all do deal with women's rights.)
Susan B. Anthony: Champion of Women's Rights
No-Nonsense Guide to Women's Rights
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine
Breadwinner
Women's Rights
Women's Rights in France, Vol. 74
Women's Rights: Changing Attitudes, 1900-2000
Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in Islam
Women's Rights
and...
Women's Rights
Clearly, Barnes and Noble has, and perhaps the publishers they carry have, a very misandrous view of men – when asked about “men’s rights” we hear “they are flabby and need to tone up”, “they need to get some manners”, and “Pity they can’t Cook”, and “They should just get married”. –Lovely. There are a decent number of men’s rights authors out there. Why aren’t they listed?
For me, its time to get back to the slave-pits.
(Used to be the coal-mines, before alimony and child support, but now I don't get to keep what I earn.)
-M
p.s. No, I don't get anything if you click on the links above, so if you aren't interested in looking at the books, don't waste your time or tire your clicky-finger on my account.
Update - related news: The Geezer struggles with a library who has a policy that excluded men's studies.
Update 4-May-06: Ran Across Thomas Berger's Regiment of Women, mentioned in the comments - way over the top!
3 comments:
Barnes and Nobles has been under the feminist thrall for as long as I can remember. For instance, in the early 80s I tried to replace my lost copy of Thomas Berger's Regiment of Women, a merciless lampoon of feminism. The largest B&N in NYC had a shelf with the "complete" works of Berger--complete, of course, except for that book.
Another time I asked a male clerk for the Men's section (since they had a very extensive Women's section). He grinned at me and led me to a copy of Iron John. When I explained that I was interested in men's rights, a female clerk from two aisles across called me a pig. It seemed the whole place was staffed with lesbian feminists and men who had been "fixed." (The fact that the headquarters of N.O.W. was 2 blocks away heightened my suspicion.)
I'm certain that many of the buying decisions for the book chains are made by (shudder!) politicized women's studies graduates, so don't expect much from any of them. But B&N is still probably the worst.
It's just as often the problem of the publisher/distributor in getting those books to the shelves and customers. On a floor stocked with pieces expected to move, some seminal books to men's studies are overlooked in order to give the bigger sellers more facetime.
Also, there is the problem of not enough material to make an entire men's studies/rights section. More studies and writers are needed to make the area of study truly contemporary and "worth it" to major booksellers to make sections for it.
I'm sorry that that woman was being such a *. Behavior like that often says more about the person than it does about the target. You should write to B + N corporate and let them know what happened.
Also, works from more obscure authors tend to be constantly fluctuating in and out of print and going from one publisher to the next. When in doubt, ask for a search and maybe you can special order it.
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