The Myth of Male Power

Rating:
Summary: The Myth of Farrell Credibility
Review: This is simply another reaction to the gains of the feminist movement. While the right to critique any theory must be protected, Farrell deliberately misinforms those who read his book. The only purpose of such an endeavor is to perpetuate the gender division that forced women into the positions that feminism provides one way of explaining. Farrell is merely telling his readers what he wants them to hear -men are the victims and are powerless - but refuses to acknowledge the evidence against him like disproportionate representation of women in governments around the world. Farrell needs to learn that critique does not involve slanderous misinformation. There are critiques of feminism that are legitimate, informed, and less hostile to women than Farrel's. Try Enlightenment theorists as a start.

Rating:
Summary: This book is full of unsubstantiated assertions.
Review: Warren Farrell is not fair to his feminist opponents. In fact, he asserts that feminists have not considered the male sex role, and that he is the first to do so. This is far from true. Furthermore, he most often does not quote feminists directly; he prefers to allude to what he perceives to be feminist thinking. He also makes the mistake of assuming that society is governed by feminist ideals.

I found a few disturbing errors in this book. One is so glaring that I wonder if it is in fact an error. He states that Laurie Dann injured or murdered only men and boys, and either exaggerates or fabricates her other violent activities, and offers the Chicago Tribune as a citation for this. If one checks the actual articles (05/21/88), however, one will see that two girls, Kathryn Miller and Lindsay Fisher were shot. I wonder why he felt compelled to make this distortion. In my opinion, it makes his arguments look very weak.

Rating:
Summary: An Eye-Opening Read
Review: Farrell's basic thesis is that men protect women, and no one protects men, who are regarded as expendable. Take healthcare, for instance. In spite of claims by feminists that female healthcare is neglected in comparison with male healthcare, since 1920 the male-female life-span *gap* has increased 600 percent to the present seven years by which female life span exceeds that of males.

Suicide as an expression of powerlessness: "As boys experience the pressures of the male role, their suicide rate increases 25,000 percent." (0.1 suicides per 100,000 boys under the age of nine to 25.8 suicides per 100.000 boys [men] between ages 20-24. That's six times as high as the rate for women ages 20-24.)

And Farrell notes that the advantages men enjoy, i.e., better pay on jobs, are actually a benefit for women, in that while men may earn fat salaries, women spend them (men often don't have the leisure). And while high-status male- dominated occupations, e.g., surgeon, investment banker, are associated with stress-related illnesses, low-status male-dominated occupations, e.g., construction worker, coal miner, garbage-truck driver, are associated with higher rates of injury and death. In other words, women may earn less, but their occupations are safer.

Farrell also enumerates the dis-Viagrifing risks men run when they have sexual relations with women: (1) If pregnancy results, the woman can tell the man or not--her option, (2) If pregnant, the woman can keep the fetus or abort--her option, (3) If the woman gives birth, she can extract 18 years of child-support payments from the guy or not--her option. I wouldn't necessarily argue that this should be otherwise, but clearly there's a big difference in power here.

This pretty much conforms to my view: men are expendable, not designed for the long-haul, designed to fight, breed, and die, their function served. Women, on the other hand, are designed to perpetuate the culture, educate the young, etc., and have to last longer. It's a little ! worrisome to note, however, that the programming of our genes has been greatly assisted in recent years by extra-genetic attacks on men.

Not that I'm complaining, I hasten to add. We guys are tough; we can take it.

Rating:
Summary: Phantastic
Review: First time I see someone shows the real situation in the world in an objective way, based on million of facts. A MUST to read. Especially men should read and learn from. It changed my view to many things

Rating:
Summary: It'll change the way you see the world.
Review: I have studied American and German literature, work as an author and as a kind of proof-reader for a German publishing-house. Farell's book is the best book I've read in the last ten years. There is nothing more to say.

Rating:
Summary: My eyes have been opened to a formerly "invisible" world!
Review: My own bias kept me from expecting any meaningful insights from a former "male feminist," but as I listened to this book on tape, I found I could not turn it off without wishing I had brought a notebook to capture the statistics and insights.

Asking simply to be "listened to, rather than labeled", Dr. Farrell has received more than a deaf ear from the feminist movement. Once a rising, popular speaker with the NOW gang & on the NOW Board of Directors during the 1970's, he is now in the twilight zone between being a NOW-exile and being a "voice in the wilderness" for men.

With more 50 pages of footnotes, Dr. Farrell is prepared for the scrutinity that is expected from scoffers. A summary of the insights includes:
While men do make more money, because they have five expenditures that women traditionally do not have, they average a lower "net worth" than women;
Men dominate 24 of the 25 "killer" professions and contribute over 90% of the on-the-job deaths;
M

Rating:
Summary: The most important book I've ever read about gender issues.
Review: This text should be required reading for all males of college age and for the mothers of male children. Warren's unique gift is the ability to articulate the male perspective.

As one who has read works by femminists N. Wolf and S.Faludi as well as works by R. Bly and J. Gray, I can honestly say, nobody else comes close to Warren's ability to deliver profound insights that are as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel.

Rating:
Summary: problematic
Review: Actually, some of Farrell's citations did not lead to the 'facts' he claimed in his book. This is the biggest shortcoming of The Myth of Male Power. He should be more thorough in his fact-checking next time, because there were quite a few errors in the book.

Rating:
Summary: problematic
Review: Dr. Farrell was on the board of directors of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW). He broke ranks because of the increasing man-bashing by many feminists. This book was ten years in the making, and makes a compelling argument against many tenets of the feminist faith. Gloria Steinem and Patricia Ireland don't want you to read this book, because they can't answer his arguments. But the book doesn't have a polemical tone; Dr. Farrell is far more gracious than Rush Limbaugh (or James Carville).