The Myth of Male Power

Having messed up the world by supporting the women's rights movement, what does Farrell propose doing to improve men's condition in it? Launching a men's rights movement! When all you have is a culture-destroying package of irresponsible ideas, everything looks like a nail.

Just try to imagine what would happen to the collective-self-defense capabilities of a society that adopted his recommendations on warfare, or to the birth rate of a society that adopted his recommendations on sexuality...

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 show more 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 challenges the feminist establishment's 'economy with the truth' to protect its interest.

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.

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 liberal feminists set out to do 40 years ago - create a world in which men and women can love each other in the way that emancipates both sexes. show less

There were quite a few scenarios in the book for which I went 'wow.. never thought of it like that'. Dr Farrell's ability to back up his statements by providing actual numbers makes is even more convincing.

Most of the times, books on similar topics stay limited to the US (as most of the authors I've read so far are from the US), but while reading this book, a good number of arguments posed by the author are valid even outside the US.

Highly recommended.

"Women have the right to children but men have to fight for children."

A very cogent and powerful counterargument to the idea that men (or women) have, took, or created power over one another.

Check his facts. In many cases, if not most, he has misrepresented his supporting evidence. I agree with some of what he says (why should young men have to register for a draft but not young women?), but can't abide by an author who twists the facts to create support for his arguements.

critique of feminist view of male position

Gender roles affect everyone.