Mandatory Reads: Justin Baldoni’s ‘Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity’ Takes a New Approach For Men Starting Today

Justin Baldoni is one of our favorite dudes here at Mandatory. That’s because the former leading man of Jane the Virgin is on a mission to amend traditional ideas of what it means to be a “real” man. Today, he’s furthered his quest by releasing the book Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity.

Photo: HarperOne / Amazon

The actor, director, activist, husband, and father of two (oof!) started the conversation about ditching toxic gender stereotypes back in 2017 when he gave a TedTalk titled “Why I’m Done Trying to Be Man Enough.” The video went viral, and ended up providing the foundation for Baldoni’s new book.

In the tome, Baldoni breaks down constricting masculinity myths, like the pressure to be “the man who has it all together and who doesn’t need anyone else.” He also covers topics such as strength and vulnerability, relationships and marriage, body image, sex and sexuality, racial justice, gender equality, and fatherhood. Throughout, he illustrates the hurtful nature of traditional masculinity’s teachings with deeply personal stories and anecdotes of his own struggles to feel like he was “enough” of a man according to society’s rigid standards.

The book is meant to motivate men to abandon what they’ve had ingrained in them about masculinity since childhood and to inspire guys to forge a new path, one that allows for a wider range of masculine expression.

As Baldoni recently told Esquire, “What I want to say to any man who’s reading this is that this book is an invitation. It’s not a condemnation. It’s not an attack on men. Because I love being a man. I believe there’s amazing aspects to being a man. I think, as men, we have to look at our lives and ourselves and things that lead to our discontentment and unhappiness, or that cause pain in the lives of the people we love, and be willing to take feedback, adjust, and listen. I wrote this book because I didn’t have that in my life, I didn’t have somebody that could model that for me. So this is truly an invitation from my story hopefully into yours, to know that who you are, as you are, is enough.”

Pick up a copy of Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity in e-book, audio, or hardcover form on Amazon today!

Cover Photo: NBC/Contributor (Getty Images)

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