Knights Without Armor
Males will find this a powerful volume. Kipnis, a psychotherapist who serves as the co-director of California's Pangaea Institute for Gender Studies, disapprovingly examines the treatment given male infants, children and adolescents, chastising society for forcing them to measure themselves by the standards of heroes. Although in near accord with the aims of groups like NOW, he also makes telling arguments that some feminists are motivated primarily by hatred of men, and shows how males are discriminated against in such matters as divorce, child custody, sentencing for crimes, etc. The author presents 12 tasks for men--for example, "to build male community and begin healing the wounds between the sexes"--and urges them to stand up for their social and political rights. More didactic than Iron John (although strongly influenced by the Robert Bly work), this is perhaps a more helpful guide for what Kipnis calls "the wounded male."Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.