MEN PERFORMING MASCULINITY Cassell, 1994 (UK); Routledge (US)

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'Simpson pulls the pants of popular culture and wittily winks at the Freudian symbols lurking beneath.' (FOUR STARS OUT OF FOUR) - The Modern Review

'A brilliantly-positioned array of firecrackers, elephant traps and banana skins designed to trick conventional maleness into showing it's true hand, or some extremity....SIMPSON CAPERS LIKE ROBIN GOODFELLOW, STRIPPING OFF THE FIG LEAVES WITH EXUBERANCE.' - The Observer

'CLEVER, ENGAGING, INCISIVE.' - The Guardian

‘EMINENTLY READABLE.' - My Prime

'Mark Simpson's Male Impersonators could do for male sexuality what Camilla Paglia did for women, finding latent homo subtexts to Marky Mark, Clint Eastwood and Tom Cruise's baseball bat.' - Melody maker

'This set of high-spirited essays displays more insight into the masculine mystique than has the decade of earnest men's studies that preceded it. Simpson has an unerring eye for the inner logic and pretences of a wide range of masculine enterprises and symbols. ' - Choices

'Male Impersonators quickly reveals itself to be different and, arguably more insightful than many previous 'Masculinity books'. Male Impersonators makes a timely and exemplary addition to cult stud's 'Return to Freud'. It has an excellent readability factor compared to many others freighted with dull writing.' - Perversions

'A DEFT AND PERSUASIVE DISCUSSION ON THE SUBJECT.' - Stage and Television Today

'THESE SMASHINGLY PROVOCATIVE ESSAYS BY THE SPUNKY BRIT WRITER MARK SIMPSON... DETONATE MYTHS, STEREOTYPES AND ICONS, GAY AS WELL AS STRAIGHT. THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL LINE SEPARATING HOMO AND HETERO MALENESS, HE FULSOMELY SHOWS, IS MUCH FUZZIER THAN ROBERT BLY AND PAT BUCHANAN FIND IT TO BE.' - Lambda Book Report

'LIKE ME THIS BOOK PLAYS WITH MEN. PROVOCATIVE, IRREVERENT, ACERBIC AND WITTY, IT OFFERS ONE GIGANTIC INTELLECTUAL ORGASM AFTER ANOTHER' - Margi Clarke

'MARK SIMPSON DETECTS AND DISSECTS THE MYTHS OF MACHISMO AND ITS ATTENDANT MEDIA CIRCUS WITH REFRESHING GUSTO AND WIT.' - John Ashberry, Pulitzer Prize Winner

'This set of high-spirited essays displays more insight into the masculine mystique than has the decade of earnest Men's Studies that preceded it. Simpson had an unerring eye for the inner logic and pretences of wide range of masculine enterprises and symbols. The author treats readers to a romp through the icons of popular culture, exposing the necessarily homoerotic underpinnings that give them their appeal. There is incisive commentary on the Gay's-In-The-Military debate in the US, scrutiny of the popularity of such body-building stars as Schwarzenegger and Stallone, exposure of the 'Boys-Night-Out' and a deconstruction of the rituals of football. Simpson offers a guidebook to the gender dynamics of advertising aimed at men, and he contrasts the veiled homoerotics of such male sex symbols as Marky Mark with the semiology of explicit pornography intended for gay men. His reviews of war movies, of The Crying Game, and Robert Bly's Men's Movement tell a lot about impersonating men. Several of the essays have appeared before in the popular press; the books breezey and sometimes mischievous tone is always engaging. THIS IS QUEER THEORY WITHOUT THE JARGON AND IS A MUST FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN THINGS MALE. GENERAL AND ACADEMIC READERS AT ALL LEVELS.' - Choices