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Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
Rebecca Walker, the editor of a new collection of essays about the meaning of "masculinity," talks about her anthology -- and how her identity as a black, white and Jewish bisexual affects her work.
May 28, 2004 | Rebecca Walker has never played it safe. Her first book, the 1995 anthology "To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism," unleashed a feminist firestorm when she published it at age 25. Despite its foreword by Gloria Steinem, afterword by Angela Davis, and contributions by many well-known second-wave standard-bearers, the book's critique of feminism's cultishness infuriated many movement veterans -- the outcome Walker dreaded most. "I thought I might be perceived as betraying 'The Movement' rather than celebrating it," she wrote in the book's introduction. "I feared that this betrayal, which was grounded in staying true to myself, could mean banishment from the community for questioning the status quo. Because feminism has always been so close to home, I worried that I might also be banished from there."
Walker risked banishment from home again when she wrote "Black, White and Jewish" (2001), her memoir of growing up in the joint custody of her Jewish civil rights lawyer father and African-American novelist mother. "My parents did not hold me close, but encouraged me to go," she wrote. "They did not buffer, protect, watch out for, or look after me. I was mostly left alone to discover the world and my place in it." Brave words for the daughter of Alice Walker to commit to print. Having published and regretted a few words about my (non-famous) mother myself, I found myself astounded as I watched Walker read passages like that from "Black, White and Jewish" at Black Oak Books in Berkeley soon after the books release, beneath a beatific photograph of her mother that hung -- literally -- over her head.
Rebecca Walker's new anthology, "What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future," is less personal but, in many ways, equally risky. It's a crazy quilt of essays made vivid by its eclectic collection of contributors: writers previously published and not, many of them men of color, most of them tackling the topic from deeply personal and provocative perspectives. Jesse Green ("The Velveteen Father") writes about the meaning of male/female, husband/wife in the life of a gay dad; National Public Radio commentator Doug Rushkoff discusses the effects, both good and bad, that Playboy had on him as a young man. Death-row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters writes excruciatingly about trying to mentor young, self-destructive fellow prisoners. Meditation teacher Caitriona Reed reflects on being Buddhist and transsexual. There are excerpts from Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" ("The End of Men"), Anthony Swofford's "Jarhead," and "I Sleep at Red Lights," by Bruce Stockler, a new father of triplets. The net effect of the book is that of overhearing a confessional conversation among a group of thoughtful men, with a few similarly self-appraising women (Martha Southgate on her seemingly female son; Tajamika Paxton on her wounded, dying father; Ruth Bettleheim on the favorable impact of divorce on young boys) in the mix.
Now 34, Walker has once again taken a topic that seemed to have been talked to death and given us ways and means to think about it differently. Like her other books, "What Makes a Man" was born at home -- in her relationship with the son, now 15, she shares with her ex, musician Meshell Ndegeocello.
What Makes a Man: 22 Writers Imagine the Future
By Rebecca Walker (editor)
Riverhead Books
252 pages
Nonfiction
Walker and I spent an afternoon at her publicist's home in the hills of Oakland, Calif., discussing her writing and how it affects her identity as a mother.
Let's talk about the new book first. Where'd the idea come from?
One night my son -- this dynamic, interesting 11-year-old who loves chess and snowboarding and sci-fi -- turned to me and said, "You think I should play sports so girls will like me?" I reacted the way I would have if I had a daughter who'd asked, "Should I pretend I'm dumb so boys will like me?"
