The Future of Men

In this instalment of the FUTURESseries, comedian and activist Grace Campbell traverses the shifting landscape of contemporary masculinity, and speculates about how it might look in twenty years time

Where and who do we want to be? How might we get there? What might happen if we stay on our current course?

Comedian, writer and activist Grace Campbell was born into a political environment that suggested only aggressive, dominant men – like her father Alistair Campbell – were allowed power. Seeing this, she decided that if she wanted to be powerful she had to be like him, a decision that baffled the boys she grew up with.

In The Future of Men, Grace draws on research, interviews and her own experience to examine how these dynamics and presumptions have shifted in her lifetime, and will continue to change in coming decades. Men have been writing about the future of women since words came into existence – now Grace returns the favour with this sharp, funny and personal essay.

This brief but mighty book is one of five that comprise the first set of FUTURES essays. Each standalone book presents the author's original vision of a singular aspect of the future which inspires in them hope or reticence, optimism or fear. Read individually, these essays will inform, entertain and challenge. Together, they form a picture of what might lie ahead, and ask the reader to imagine how we might make the transition from here to there, from now to then.