Islam
Book Description:
First colonized and now living under political oppression, experiencing marginalization, and feeling dejection and humiliation, many Muslim men in and outside Muslim countries have no opportunities to prove themselves as "honorable" or practice "masculinity" in culturally prescribed ways. Troubled and troublesome, many turn to militant jihadist networks to achieve self-actualization and heroism. Terrorist networks, acting as surrogates to national liberation and antiauthoritarian movements, further complicate these dynamics. Maleeha Aslam argues that gender is a fundamental battleground on which al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their types must be defeated. Issues of regressive radicalism, literalism, militancy, and terrorism can only be solved through people-centered interventions. Therefore, governments and civil society should promote an alternative culture of growth, self-expression, and actualization for Muslim men. To achieve sustainable counterterrorism results, Aslam recommends emphasizing masculine behaviour within the context of Muslim tradition and expanding the scope of required interventions beyond those confined to Islam. The book also includes empirical data from a pilot study conducted on Pakistani Muslim masculinities.
Book Description:Christianity
This innovative book outlines the great complexity, variety and difference of male identities in Islamic societies. From the Taliban orphanages of Afghanistan to the cafés of Morocco, from the experience of couples at infertility clinics in Egypt to that of Iraqi conscripts, it shows how the masculine gender is constructed and negotiated in the Islamic Ummah. It goes far beyond the traditional notion that Islamic masculinities are inseparable from the control of women, and shows how the relationship between spirituality and masculinity is experienced quite differently from the prevailing Western norms.
Buddhism (in Asian context):
Book Description
With his one-of-a kind blend of autobiography, pop culture, and plainspoken Buddhism, Brad Warner explores an A-to-Z of sexual topics — from masturbation to dating, gender identity to pornography. In addition to approaching sexuality from a Buddhist perspective, he looks at Buddhism — emptiness, compassion, karma — from a sexual vantage. Throughout, he stares down the tough questions: Can prostitution be a right livelihood? Can a good spiritual master also be really, really bad? And ultimately, what's love got to do with any of it? While no puritan when it comes to non-vanilla sexuality, Warner offers a conscious approach to sexual ethics and intimacy — real-world wisdom for our times.
From a Review:
"Since most Buddhists are laypeople (yes, the author intends that pun), Warner offers practice- and experience-based analysis and reflection over a wide range of sex-related topics and flavors, from vanilla (traditional hetero) to kink. A mind-opening interview with Zen-influenced porn star Nina Hartley is included, as is discussion of a difficult topic in Buddhism: student-teacher sexual involvement. Warner is as usual at his best in confessional-analytic mode; he's been romantically involved with a student and written a Buddhist column for a sex-positive Web site. A few chapters seem dry or even unnecessary: a chapter on Amma, for example, is unwarranted. Some women readers will object to the inescapability of the male viewpoint, though the author is aware of his biases. Kudos to Warner for tackling the subject." source: Publishers weekly @ Amazon.
"Whenever anyone tells me that sex is the key to happiness, or the key to damnation, I'm handing them this book.” — Violet Blue, blogger and sex columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Hinduism (in the context of India's Culture)
Judaism:
Book Description
Brother Keepers: New Perspectives on Jewish Masculinity is an international collection of new essays on Jewish men by academics and activists, rabbis and secularists, men and women, on personal experience and congregational life, gendered bodies and Jewish minds, poetry and prayer, literature and film, and more. Simultaneously particular and universal, all engagingly illuminate how masculinities and Judaisms engage each other in gendered Jewishness. Reveiw
"The collection as a whole is too eclectic to give a good sense of what is going on in Jewish men's studies. But for academic collections on contemporary Jewish identity and for synagogue with an interest in men's concerns, it is a worthy addition." source: Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews @ amazon.
Other Religious/Spiritual Movements (aka alternative spiritualities):