Phillips believes that men who leave their wives are rightly condemned, but disagrees that women who leave their husbands are any less destructive. Recent feminist best-sellers argue that men fail to offer commitment because they are confused about their roles. Phillips insists that women have caused that confusion. Promiscuous by nature, men in the past constrained themselves because women demanded it. It is women's misconception of sexual equality, Phillips concludes, that has made them unwitting victims, driving men away.
Violence is also a factor.
Women are popularly assumed to be the sole victims of domestic violence. But in two national surveys, American social scientists revealed that husbands and wives attack each other physically at equal rates. Psychologist John Archer notes that women are more likely to provoke men because they sense that men can defend themselves and are programmed to restrain themselves. In the new millennium, they may have to bring the same lesson to the sexes in hopes of rebuilding marriage. Check out Books for or about Battered Men .