Abstract
This article reflects on contemporary notions of masculinity in relation to sexuality, the internet and the latest addendum to the neoliberal project, the ‘pharmaco-pornographic’ management of affect. Drawing on clinical work, on Nietzschean notions of culture and civilization and on contemporary critical theory, the author asks whether psychotherapy can help contemporary men out of the impasse between wildness and domestication. To this purpose, the article also sketches the basis for a feral philosophy that may be able to navigate a middle path for a masculine identity that is stuck between brutality and docility.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Manu Bazzano is a psychotherapist, supervisor and visiting lecturer at the University of Roehampton and other colleges and universities in the UK and abroad. He was ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk in both the Soto and Rinzai traditions. He has authored and edited several books, including Spectre of the Stranger (2012), After Mindfulness (2014) and Therapy and the Counter-Tradition (co-edited with Julie Webb), published by Routledge in April 2016. Manu is also the Self & Society book reviews editor. Website: www.manubazzano.com.