Rating: 
Summary: Unraveling a Knot We Can't Stop Tying
Review: "Excellent idea, Ms. Jones. Perhaps one of the men would like to suggest it." This caption from a New Yorker cartoon quoted by author Allan Johnson encapsulates the basic problem addressed in his book: that we are so enveloped in a male-oriented culture that we accept this kind of routine diminishment of women as standard daily fare. In a fact-filled 250 pages, this enjoyable gem of a book offers a shocking education on the subject of patriarchy - a male-centered system of control and domination so omnipresent that we don't even realize it is there. Johnson explains how men are subtly encouraged from an early age to close down anything in their being that doesn't contribute to upholding the culture of male privilege, and have thus cut themselves off from their natural inner resources and wisdom, from their bodies, and from their feeling selves. "Few men realize how much they deaden themselves in order to support...a system that privileges them at women's expense," says Johnson. Johnson dissects the various branches of feminist thought, concluding that liberal feminism doesn't go far enough, and supports a more radical approach as necessary to bringing about the changes our society needs. He dismantles the so-called wisdom of the mythopoetic men's movement pioneered by Robert Bly and Sam Keen, which seeks to blame some illusory "awesome power" of women for all the shortcomings of men. This book made it painfully clear to me that our current pitiful world situation is nothing but the logical consequence of the obsession with control and domination mandated by patriarchy. And this system has very deep roots; but Johnson also offers ideas and tools for change. There is an optimistic conclusion, and a good suggested reading and resource section at the end. The world will be a better place for this book. Thank you, Allan Johnson, for this vital and generous offering. Thorough; written in a straightforward, orderly style; beautifully edited for readability. My highest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: A Micro/macro view of how oppressive systems work
Review: Allan Johnson takes a complex and highly charged topic and makes it clear, concise and understandable, regardless of one's gender. His analysis spans the gamut from the personal to the general with regards to not only power relationships between men and women, but also the dynamics of all kinds of oppression. He is "radical" in that he gets to the root causes of sexism -- all isms for that matter. Yet he stays clear of the guilt/blame spiral and instead inspires a sense of empowerment, suggesting how to be part of the solution to the immense problems wrought by patriarchy's fallacies. Also, appreciated his challenges to some of the leading gurus in the "mythopoetic men's movement" as well as the trendy gender arbiters like John Gray and Debra Tannen, who normalize male/female behavior differences, without examining the root causes and how they actually perpetuate behaviors formed out of thousands of years of patriarchal conditioning. This book removes the veil of illusion about the world we live in -- while offering hope, not for quick fixes, but of the long-term, big-picture variety. It reveals the scholarship of one who has gone to the depths in the study of people, social systems and how they interact.
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Summary: The Gender Knot clarifies all I have read on Feminism/Gender
Review: Allan Johnson writes with rare clarity about gender issues. Here at last is a book about gender relations that both men and women can feel connected to. Johnson validates women's feminist work, holding it up as an example of both moral and intellectual achievement. In fact, he takes feminism absolutely seriously, which made me realize just how rare that is. And yet, he's not a guilt-ridden "sensitive 90's guy" who is merely kow-towing to anything female because of the long history of our mistreatment at the hands of his gender. Instead, Johnson takes a far more responsible role than passive guilt. He is actively working to understand patriarchy from a male perspective in order that he can be part of a large-scale, *societal* (not individual-level) solution to the gender problems we are mired in. Men will not feel personally attacked by his stance on patriarchy, and yet, women will feel validated. This is a very important book.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous! Highly insightful
Review: Allan Johnson writes with rare clarity about gender issues. Here at last is a book about gender relations that both men and women can feel connected to. Johnson validates women's feminist work, holding it up as an example of both moral and intellectual achievement. In fact, he takes feminism absolutely seriously, which made me realize just how rare that is. And yet, he's not a guilt-ridden "sensitive 90's guy" who is merely kow-towing to anything female because of the long history of our mistreatment at the hands of his gender. Instead, Johnson takes a far more responsible role than passive guilt. He is actively working to understand patriarchy from a male perspective in order that he can be part of a large-scale, *societal* (not individual-level) solution to the gender problems we are mired in. Men will not feel personally attacked by his stance on patriarchy, and yet, women will feel validated. This is a very important book.
Rating:
Summary: The Gender Knot
Review: Allan Johnson's text is fantastic. He engages the subject in a way that is easy for college students on every level to grasp. I have used his text "Privilege, Power and Difference" in an ethnic drama lit course I taught and I will use this text in my other drama lit courses as well.
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Summary: A true gem of wisdon
Review: I have been truly fortunate to have had the opportunities of both being assigned this book for two college courses and seeing Dr. Johnson speak at my college. In both his book and his lecture, he has a quiet assurity and clarity that is rare to find in the social sciences. He clearly lays out the underlying premises of our patriarchal system, showing how everything we live in is tied to it. What I liked best about this work was his discussion of "Ghandi's Paradox"; that is, nothing we do can matter, but it is absolutely essential that we do it, anyway. In order to change our patriarchal state, Johnson says, we must do what little things we can, instead of trying to change it all in gigantic strides. One person objecting to being a part of a nudie bar audience offers an alternative mode of behavior for others than the path of least resistance we all follow. That really made me understand how I could do my part to contribute to change, and made me feel brave enough to take part in it. I thank Dr. Johnson for doing his part and being brave enough to write this book, for I have seen firsthand what resistance he and the fighters for this cause must face.
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Summary: A hermaphroditc soul
Review: I like to think of myself as a very extreme gender outlaw, but untill I read this book I didn't realize just how much further I had to go to fully understand the system... tome it had laways been a struggle beween the balences of 'masculine' and 'femine' but understanding the modivation behind these specifictaions has really opend my eyes and in some part confirmed what I already suspected. Gender is an illusion that prevades and convinces us that we are nothing more than two dimentional characters and not living breathing individuals.
Also this book works well defineing just what patriarchy is, not something done by individual men but an insanity began by our struggle to dominate over nature... but understanding it many struggles in my life have been brought down into perspective, I suggest this book to anyone who struggles with the guilt of 'being a man' or wants to understand what goes though thier minds.
Rating: 
Summary: Much too biased
Review: I read this book and found it to be a most slanted discourse on gender issues. The author clearly has issues of self-loathing. To place all the ills of non-white, non-males on the backs of white males is very simplistic and disingenuous. The author's reasonings give everyone an easy out for their lot in life. If you're not as successful as you feel you're entitled to be, just blame it on men. To be so anti-men is to render the author's points little more than ad hominem attacks on the male species. The use of statistics in such a flippant way is a textbook case of how statistics can be abused. At some point, a balanced account of gender issues will arrive. Obviously that time is not now.
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Summary: Distorted beyond validity
Review: This book is most certainly among the most distorted works that purport to be an unbiased discourse on gender issues. Allan Johnson has contrived page after page of anti-men rhetoric that renders the book a pure work of fiction. How can someone be so self-hating? It is beyond me. Johnson needs to take a huge step back and realize that not everything male is horrible and that not everything female if benevolent and good. How about a BALANCED work on gender issues? I suspect that won't be coming anytime soon from Allan Johnson.
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Summary: who's to blame?
Review: This is an excellent book because he does not enforce a man-hating policy. Instead, he addresses everyone who participates in the patriarchal society. So many men and women resist feminism because everyone's looking for the people to blame, and no one wants to feel guilty. He states simply that we are all to blame if we do not examine how we live our lives. I know now that even though i'm a woman, i too was to blame. Patriarchy is bigger than all of us, and to say that Johnson hates men or is self-loathing is ignorant and only goes to prove the point of his book. If you have the chance to see him speak--do so. It's worth it.
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