Gendered Fictions vii

ContentsAcknowledgments ix

Permissions x

Introduction xi

1. Constructing Gender 1

What Are Little Boys Made Of? 5Traditional

Swingers and Squares 11J. California Cooper

2. Reading Gender 22

Rhinoceros Beetle 23Susan Hawthorne

As Boys to Wanton Flies 29Michael Wilding

3. Reading Masculinity 42

Simply . . . Understanding Boys 42New Internationalist

A New View of Masculinity 49Cooper Thompson

Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dogs’ Tails 58David Denborough

4. Becoming a Man 63

The Altar of the Family 64Michael Wilding

The Blooding 71Peter Goldsworthy

Goodbye Jenny 83Penelope Wallace

5. Doing What Comes Naturally? 86

The Unnatural Mother 87Charlotte Perkins Gilman

in the early afternoon 97Trish McNamara

viii Gendered Fictions

Raymond’s Run 102Toni Cade Bambara

References 110

About the Authors 111