2nd July, 2007,
Mumbai

Men Against Violence & Abuse (MAVA) has launched it's book entitled "Breaking the Moulds: Indian men look at patriarchy looking at men" at Oxford Book House, Near Churchgate, Mumbai on July 2nd at 6.15 p.m.

Dr. Vibhuti Patel, Director,Deptt.of PG Studies, SNDT Women's University gave the key note address. Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari (Retd.) chaired the function.

The book is a serious and pioneering attempt by men to understand the shaping of multiple masculinities in the Indian context and would serve as primer on Men's studies in India. Published by Books for Change, Delhi, it has cover/visuals by Anil Dabhade. It is jointly produced by MAVA and Purush Uvach (Men Speak), Pune.

The book includes fresh write-ups exclusively by men on a wide range of gender and sexuality matters. It has all forms of expressions: short stories, first-person accounts, interviews, plays, poems, analytical articles, group discussions and interviews. The publication records the impressions by sensitive, concerned men who have questioned and in their own way attempted to change patriarchal, male-dominated stereotypes in society. Among the write-ups in the book, is a lot of experiential sharing which help in breaking the myth of masculinity as a monolithic construct and brings out the diversity, complexity, pain and richness of experiences of men who are attempting to break out of the patriarchal moulds.

In her Foreword written for the book, Dr. Maithreyi Krishnaraj, noted feminist scholar says "This book on masculinity is a timely venture. It is the only one of its kind in our country.

It is an appropriate exploration of so far unexamined recesses of the male mind, its received wisdom, its fears and its anxieties in trying to match social expectations of the model ‘man.’ ... The present book shares with us the exploration of the difficult journey of modern post feminist, gendered man through the treacherous terrain of relationships and ideologies through the process of examining masculinity by bringing to us experiences and not just high theory…. What I liked most about the book is the hope it brings to us that there is a tremendous possibility to all of us becoming more human than just gendered beings."