Psychoanalysis and politics: Juliet Mitchell then and now

Feminism and psychoanalysis have been in constant dialogue over the last four decades, and Juliet Mitchell has played a critical role in instigating and shaping that conversation. Yet her own work incorporates some of the most contentious aspects of it. Here I explore her latest book, Madmen and Medusas, to reflect upon why the relationship between her work and that dialogue remains so troubled. This exploration enables me to consider, once more, the contrasts between psychoanalytic perspectives that focus upon kinship, ideology, and symbolic structures and those which stress the historical contingency of gender categories

Back to the boys? Temptations of the good gender theorist

Saturated with gloom, anxiety, mirth or irony, discourses of men in crisis are ubiquitous. Critically surveying available empirical evidence and the ever-expanding conceptual apparatus for deconstructing and refiguring masculinities, this article reflects upon the historical, social, cultural and political landscape of crisis literature. It considers the limitations of attempts to reform or undo some of the unwanted repercussions of manhood, whether endeavouring to reform, deconstruct, subvert, reclaim or ironize social attitudes, texts or performances of masculinity

Men after feminism: what’s left to say?

In a paper first delivered at the University of Barcelona (2006), Segal focuses on the future of men after the feminist movement. Among the many topics Segal broaches is that masculinity(ies) studies should not be viewed as usurping women's studies in the academy