The Myth of Male Power
by Warren Farrell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Warren FarrellEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-01-09
ISBN: 0425181448
Number of pages: 488
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Book Reviews of The Myth of Male Power
Book Review: A Backlash Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Summary: 2 Stars
It would take a book to answer all that is wrong with Farrell's reasoning, but to make a few points:
1. He implies that female 'circumcision' is much the same as male circumcision which is astounding but points to his general ignorance. If male circumcision is about teaching males to endure pain (actually more about male tribal bonding) then what on earth is a little girl being taught when she has her external genitalia cut away and is left with a tiny hole and a life-time of pain and health problems?? It's for protection? What, or whose, interests are being protected?
2. He does not acknowledge that the shorter male life-span is due to testosterone and all its consequences for males. Castration is known to increase the male life-span. Why do some men even want more testosterone rather than less? Surely illogical?
3. The male 'instinct' to protect females is actually to protect the bodies men need for sex and reproduction. As more than 50 million females have been killed recently in Asia simply because they were female should make us question this supposed 'instinct to protect'. And protecting females most often translates into ownership and control. This is a similar logic to that of men in certain cultures that use the pretext of honor to justify the murder of females. Why do women need protection from the protectors? Men need to explain their logic here. Is it something like the protection criminal gangs provide for people against other criminal gangs?
4. Powerless men are created by male-male competition for access to young females and again, the sacred testosterone drives this not women.
5. His views on rape are ridiculous. Young human females have permanent sexual signals whether they want sex or not. (Humans have concealed ovulation - this is 'concealed' not by the female never looking fertile but by her ALWAYS looking fertile.) These external signals do not usually reflect the females internal desires and concerns and this causes the confusion. Men are responding to fake signals that females don't know how to override without becoming invisible altogether.
6. This book is basically about all the hoops males try and jump through in order to rise in the male hierarchy and ultimately get their DNA into numbers of females.The men who fail are the men without power. Farrell wants us to feel sorry for them which is as likely as men feeling sorry for, and diverting their monogamous sexual interest and resources towards, unnattractive old women.
7.Farrell does not explain the irrationality of men rejecting and being abusive about women who don't sexually reject most men (ie the easy women) at the same time as they complain about the pain of being sexually rejected so often by women. There must be some mysterious male logic to it - perhaps situated in a fantasy world of being the only male who isn't rejected. Duplicity is clearly a male trait that farrell failed to mention.
8. It is a suspect logic that concludes that the people who have been the lawmakers and political leaders for millennia ie males, have actually only been acting in the self-interest of females. For men to have evolved a lack of self-interest is impossible. To argue that they have is Farrell's most ludicrous argument. Of course women also have self-interest, intimately tied to that of their children. The very real difference is that because we evolved with a mating system where females moved to male-bonded kin groups to breed males had the advantages of size, kin-bonding, no real reproductive demands of offspring and time and cicumstances that enabled them to be the rule-makers which included the enforcement of ownership and control of females as they were exchanged between groups for breeding. They may have felt varying amounts of power within that system and they may have felt the power of their sex needs as female power but to say that this is actually women having and exercising power is absurdly illogical and contrary to reality. It is another fantasy to add to that of South Sea Island free sex and mermaids.
This book is interesting for debate and as an example of male sexual frustration being blamed on women. Ultimately it is about how some men suffer trying to get sexual/reproductive access to females and might help us notice that the 'power' being defined is reproduction.
In a market where the supply of sperm far outstrips the tiny market of eggs it does reduce the value of sperm and create massive competition in males and competition in females for better quality sperm and/or extras that improve the outcome for offspring. Embedded in Farrell's books is the manipulative attempt to solve this by encouraging young women to 'put out' more. It's the same old male longing for 'free' sex ie the usual reproductive behavior of male animals where post-copulatory costs are carried by females.
In nature male animals experience far less or equal disposability as females when they are monogamous and concentrate more on parenting ie are symmetrical with female reproductive behavior. Can we look forward to this in the human male in the near future and solve the whole problem? Can we expect men might consider reducing the supply ie their sex-drive/seeking multiple partners and increasing their childcare. Reduce testosterone? Or is that blasphemy?
The new question is What do men want? The answer is the same as ever - sex. The methods of trying to get it are the same even when put in a new wrapper such as Farrell's ie irrationality, deceit and manipulation.
Perhaps the real myth is the myth of ADULT power and we should direct our anger and frustration towards our gametes, hormones, fetuses, infants and children that are the real reason males and females exist, are pulled together and driven apart.
At least let's not create a new myth that the human male somehow managed to evolve a lack of self-interest. How gullible does Farrell hope we are?
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