Joanne D. Birdwhistell's Mencius and Masculinities: Dynamics of Power, Morality, and Maternal Thinking (review)

In her latest book,  "Mencius" and Masculinities: Dynamics of Power, Morality, and Maternal Thinking , Joanne Birdwhistell presents a fresh perspective on a classic text. She develops a clear and detailed argument for the necessity of understanding the  Mencius  as a text concerned with masculinity and explores the nature of the type of masculinity proposed by the  Mencius . Through a careful analysis of imagery, agrarian connotations, and maternal practices, Birdwhistell argues that the new masculine ideal the  Mencius  calls for is, in fact, the result of extensive transgendering 1  of specifically female and maternal practices.