- Hardcover: 446 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Aug 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671793497
- ISBN-13: 978-0671793494
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.5 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
29,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #15 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Gender Studies > Men
- #15 in Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Methodology > Research
- #30 in Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > History & Philosophy
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am delighted this book has been re-published. In 1993 I walked past Waterstones, in Oxford Street (London) and saw a presentation display and thought "How could anyone write a book with such a ridiculous title?" Then I had the (mis)fortune to investigate a sexual harassment claim. What I learned about men and women, and particularly because of the way all the women labelled the man 'sexist' when clearly he was not, made me .... buy the book.
In my view, it remains the best book to introduce men to their own issues. What separates it from books like "The Manipulated Man" by Esther Villar or "No More Sex War" by Neil Lydon, is the impeccable research. Farrell offers nothing that he cannot back up with many credible sources of research.
After reading this, I bought his "Why Men Are The Way They Are" -- perhaps the best woman-friendly introduction on the same subject, sadly now out of print. Recently I also read his "Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say" and this led me to Christina Hoff Sommers (Who Stole Feminism?) who unmasks the way the feminist establishment's 'economy with the truth' protects its interest in much the same way as the UK Trade Union movement in the 60s/70s.
If you need any incentive to re-examine your views about men, consider just one snippet. Since Warren Farrell wrote "The Myth of Male Power" he has found 50 academic two-gender studies on domestic violence. He cannot find even one that concludes men are more violent than women. Most find that women are more (1.5 to 2 times) more violent than men in personal relationships. Don't believe me, or him - you can check this for yourself as he lists all 50 studies in an appendix to his latest book with a quick summary of the conclusions of each.
He is, therefore, absolutely justified in making us ask why - when there is so much reliable evidence that men are more abused in the home than women - are there not more refuges for men? The answer is that most men (and women) are yet to examine the level of discrimination men face. And if they have, they find through experience that challenging it brings conflict with powerful institutions that protect women as well as into direct conflict with women themselves. Only very brave, emotionally and financially secure men can do that and still have women friends at the end of the process.
My support for this book does not mean that I am anti-women. I recognise, as Farrell does, that feminism was a necessary pre-cursor to men examining their own role in society. I am, like he is, grateful to the many feminist-minded women who started discussing gender roles. But now there is a need - more than ever - to look again at what men and women do to each other in the name of 'love' so that we can begin fulfilling our good intentions to treat each other equally.
Go and buy this book - give it your friends, give it to your wife, your mother, your father, your son, your husband, your daughter. Perhaps then we can (within a generation) achieve what equity-feminists originally set out to do - create a world in which men and women can love each other in the way that emancipates both sexes.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Myth of Male Power has already become the 'bible' of the mens rights movement, and though it has been out of print for many of the 15 years since its first publication, that is simply testamant to the quite heretical idea that the book exposits and to the many obstacles that the still incipient mens movement faces. I would challenge any person, male or female, to read the first chapter alone and not come away with your mind ablaze with thoughts, angry perhaps, but provoked certainly.
The book begins with a set of varying and more tightly focused definitions of power than are generally used (for example 'influence power') and for each one shows that men actually have (and have had) the rougher deal. By the end of the first chapter, only somebody with a very crude definition of power could believe uncritcally that men have always historically had it. In fact, such a belief is tantamount, as Farrell says, to believing that a chauffer is the one with power in a rich man's limousine simply because he is the one who is being paid to drive it.
Chapter two then covers rather more philosophical territory. The author explains how the changes in divorce law, contraception, abortion etc have led to changes in the social perceptions of male and female gender roles, largely to the benefit of women and almost wholly to the cost of men. Farrell stresses that there never was a 'patriarchy' in the sense of men having all the power and using it to serve the interests only, or even primarily, of males and points amongst other things to the 1.2 million American men who have died serving their nation and families over the last two centuries. Instead, society imposed certain roles and obligations upon both men and women, and now these roles have shifted, in particular, women have far greater freedom in choosing their role, yet men are still straightjacketed as 'the protector'.
Chapter 3 appears very optimistic in terms of it being an outline of how humanity is experiencing an 'evolutionary shift' in its historical destiny. The author claims that for the first time in history, humans have overcome the basic and pressing necessities of survival and are throwing away the socially constructed shackles that have formed from those urgencies. Men, up to now have been left out of this revolution, but a successful mens movement is near to inevitible in the same way that a woman's movement emerged and was quickly successful in the 60's.
The rest of the book is really a very well researched and argued further elaboration and justification of all the points made in the first three chapters.
A brilliant and thought provoking book, anybody interested in questioning the received wisdom of our society today should order it today.
The book begins with a set of varying and more tightly focused definitions of power than are generally used (for example 'influence power') and for each one shows that men actually have (and have had) the rougher deal. By the end of the first chapter, only somebody with a very crude definition of power could believe uncritcally that men have always historically had it. In fact, such a belief is tantamount, as Farrell says, to believing that a chauffer is the one with power in a rich man's limousine simply because he is the one who is being paid to drive it.
Chapter two then covers rather more philosophical territory. The author explains how the changes in divorce law, contraception, abortion etc have led to changes in the social perceptions of male and female gender roles, largely to the benefit of women and almost wholly to the cost of men. Farrell stresses that there never was a 'patriarchy' in the sense of men having all the power and using it to serve the interests only, or even primarily, of males and points amongst other things to the 1.2 million American men who have died serving their nation and families over the last two centuries. Instead, society imposed certain roles and obligations upon both men and women, and now these roles have shifted, in particular, women have far greater freedom in choosing their role, yet men are still straightjacketed as 'the protector'.
Chapter 3 appears very optimistic in terms of it being an outline of how humanity is experiencing an 'evolutionary shift' in its historical destiny. The author claims that for the first time in history, humans have overcome the basic and pressing necessities of survival and are throwing away the socially constructed shackles that have formed from those urgencies. Men, up to now have been left out of this revolution, but a successful mens movement is near to inevitible in the same way that a woman's movement emerged and was quickly successful in the 60's.
The rest of the book is really a very well researched and argued further elaboration and justification of all the points made in the first three chapters.
A brilliant and thought provoking book, anybody interested in questioning the received wisdom of our society today should order it today.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The 20th Century is littered with examples of societies which have been taken over by ideas which, with a bit of distance, now seem like collective madness. Think of Maoist China, Apartheid South Africa, a great many of the socialist paradises, Nazi Germany (obviously). Have you ever stopped to wonder whether you now could be living in a society which is also infected with a seriously crazy (and possibly also seriously harmful) ideology? If you read Warren Farrell's book you will discover, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are.
Its a very good book, very clearly written, a good easy read, and very tightly researched (with proper documentation and references for everything). Its also a very good book to put it in your loo (I mean that as high praise). It is an extremely important book that everyone should read. What more can I say?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
bisexism
i had to read this book twice,changed my idea of sexism and male power balance...........very interesting and i found challenging to my pre held beliefs
Published 7 months ago by m. dosa
An excellent education for men and women
In his insightful and extremely well-researched book The Myth of Male Power, Warren Farrell unveils what it is like to be a man from a man's point of view. Read more
Published on 2 May 2010 by Ms. A. L. Dunn
The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex
What can I say, enlightening!
It's reassuring to read an honest and real account of the role of western men in today's society. Read more
It's reassuring to read an honest and real account of the role of western men in today's society. Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2009 by Notch
One Piece of the Relationship Puzzle!
The Myth of Male Power is written to explore why male and female roles that were previously functional need to be revised. The book is a bit of backlash from the feminist movement. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2008 by C. Clayton
This is a book all human beings should read.
This book is not just a book for men- it is a book for every human being who wishes to understand men. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2006 by Carnival of Reaction
How women hate men and what they are doing about it!
I am not sure that this book should be allowed and I am surprised that it is. It exposes feminism as the one party state of gender politics and explains the political forces that... Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2004 by Mr. S. J. Wade
Fantastic eye opener
Farrell does it again, it's just not possible to read the full book and not come away agreeing with him. Read more
Published on 26 May 2001 by Alan Carr
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > History & Philosophy
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Methodology > Research
- Books > Mind, Body & Spirit > Self Help
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Psychology Textbooks
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Gender Studies > Men
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
