Following on from the online, lockdown iteration of the Paisley Book Festival of 2021, the subject of Masculinities is revisited again this year. Last time the line-up was Graeme Armstrong, Alan Bissett and Andrew O’Hagan. This year Andrew O’Hagan (who had his own event directly before this one) was replaced by Brian Conaghan.
Like the O’Hagan event before, the hall was packed. The audience members however, had a different profile, and were there for a different reason. Although this event and Caledonian Road shared social themes and had a strong political left leaning, this one was an altogether edgier affair. The works of the three writers and the events’ theme of ‘masculinities’ brought together people who were passionate about literature as well as a gathering of youth workers, teachers, and activists.
The subject matter concerning what it means to be a man could have gone down a number of viable routes. Since it was chaired by Renfrewshire School Librarian Kenneth Naismith, the conversation was guided through the lens of a current project in which the three authors take their work to Renfrewshire schools to talk about Scottish Masculinities.
Keneth introduced them and each took turns of talking about their work.
Brian Conaghan read from his latest novel Treacle Town, a story of a gang member who life is saved from the poverty, gang violence and drug misuse when he discovers slam poetry. He joked about the dangers of reading the protagonists very last slam poem in the book, but it explains the situation perfectly.
Alan Bisset’s first work of non-fiction, LADS is a toolkit for teenage boys on respect and consent, helping them call out bad behaviour and giving them the confidence to be their best selves. This book followed on from Alan’s work with Police Scotland on the That Guy campaign and now Alan is part of the wider engagement with schools in order to promote positive masculinity (as opposed to its ‘toxic’ nemesis.
Graeme Armstrong, who ‘hails from the same post-industrial hinterland as Brian Conaghan’, read from his memoir The Cloud Factory. Graeme told the audience that people often ask about the difference between fact and fiction, he admitted that the ‘real story’, is always harder to tell.
Kenneth asked the writers about the pressures on young men in contemporary society. Graeme said it’s a difficult time be a young man. Many young men think they have to have a hard shell in order to survive, but this hard shell covers a range of vulnerabilities. He talked about the problem of toxic masculinity.
Brian agreed that it was tough being young at school. There is a pressure on young men to know what they want to be, when they’re still struggling to figure out who they are. He said, ‘One of the big changes from when I was growing up is that young people these days aren’t afraid to talk about their mental health.
Alan noted that there is pressure from ‘expectations’ and talked about the fact that it is becoming increasingly harder to get a job with a decent wage, and to afford the things people are expected to have, house, car, family, holidays etc. These are the pressures of modern economic life.
Kenneth asked about the ‘goldfish bowl effect’. What are the problems of living in an echo chamber?
Brian pointed out that there were issues of conformity, and these often translated into having the latest fashion items, which although very expensive, often seemed to be a universal requirement.
Graeme talked about the challenges of living in a ‘high-stress, low resilience society’. The coalescence of multiple crises such as the cost-of-living, COVID, the housing crisis etc., meant that young men were often likely to just say Fuckit! This leads to both a high-risk lifestyle and hypermasculinity.
Kenneth then moved the conversation onto the rise in violence.
Brian noted that there had been more than a 50% rise with over 30,000 violent incidents recorded in Scottish schools last year.
Alan pointed out that even his visits to private schools showed an overall behaviour change in young men. This was most prevalent in the area of sexualised behaviours and sexual aggression with boys making inappropriate comments to pupils and female teachers.
Brian pointed out that there has been something of a generalised power shift in schools. Deference to teachers has gone. Kids know their rights and they are aware of the legal limitations of the school in respect of discipline. This, he suggested, is wider than just poverty and deprivation and arises from a range of negative factors including the ubiquitous use of porn, and the toxic bubble of internet chat rooms.
Kenneth Naismith took the opportunity to expand on this and asked the writers about social isolation and external connections, clarifying this with the example; social media or social life?
The internet encourages the very worst kinds of toxic masculinity, claimed Alan Bisset. He elaborated by talking about toxic influencers like Andrew Tate, particularly in relation to INCEL culture. The writers were unanimous in their deep dismay at the extent to which certain groups of young men are impressed by a guy because he has a six-pack, multiple sports cars and lots of wealth.
There were questions from the audience about the ‘authentic male voice’, the notion of ‘positive’ masculinity and the effectiveness of their work in schools. This is a difficult set of subjects and the session, out of time, ends on a depressing note.
Armstrong, the only writer of the three who uses social media takes to Twitter (X) after the event to say – ‘such a vast subject and feels like we only scratched the surface in an hour. Audience reflections about including girls in anti-violence work and protecting youth work very welcome and relevant’.
Armstrong later Reposts a Tweet from a school teacher – ‘A thought provoking afternoon yesterday at @BookPaisley listening to @G_Armstrong21, Alan Bisset and @ConaghanAuthor in discussion about Scottish masculinities. Left with hope for our young people thanks to such transformative texts.’
This is after all a book festival, and the writers are artists whose work has the power to transform. Graeme Armstrong is right, a subject so entangled and enmeshed in the social, political and economic despair engulfing young people is too big to chat about never mind resolve within an hour. The fact that people are working hard, behind the scenes, to make the world a better and safer place does, however, give us hope.
