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THE FEMINIZED MALE by Patricia Cayo Sexton

THE FEMINIZED MALE

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Pub Date: July 14th, 1969
Publisher: Random House

Ever since Father Knows Best, lay sociologists have been contending he comes off worst which is one of the central arguments in this book about the decline of the first sex. It also contends initially that suppressed manhood leads to violence of all kinds, to the current student revolts as well as greater psychic disturbances. The author has based this study on a lifetime of teaching and a three year research project (turned over to the National Institute of Mental Health). Depending on your parti pris, you will argue or agree; in any case as in most books of this kind there are many overspecialized details (the relative strength of the male vs. female handgrip) and overgeneralized conclusions. Mrs. Sexton's are primarily, that we should masculinize our schools (where too many women teach while too few administrate) and feminize the power structure of society (without the subservience of their job status, they might be less hostile at home--taking revenge); equalize the upbringing of the sexes; reinvest men with some of the more heroic attributes they have lost. In between there is a mass of findings on our ""boy culture"" and the aptitudes and attitudes of each sex, some her own, some from the professional literature. The audience for this is also likely to be professional--educators, psychologists, sociologists, many of whom will be as articulate as Mrs. Sexton.