A New Psychology of Men

This book provides an extensive and seemingly exhaustive review of research on male psychology from the past 25 years. The editors, Levant and Pollack, are joined by ten or so other researchers focusing on different aspects of the subject. All identify a crisis in male gender identity and espouse a theoretical base that attributes the crisis to a fiercely restrictive ideal of masculinity that males are exposed to from infancy. The features of this ideal include aggressiveness and competition, stoicism and suppression of emotions, avoidance of all traits characterized as "feminine," homophobia, being provider and protector, and so on. Deemed not essentially biological, but the product of socialization, this masculine ideal is reinforced most perniciously through shaming (explored by Steven Krugman in chapter 8) and results in a wide range of anti-social, dysfunctional, and criminal behavior, further confounded in the lives of men from ethnic minorities and gay men, whose issues are also given consideration. While written chiefly for professionals, this book is accessible to lay readers, and there is much to be gained from it, especially for those troubled by the confusion over the role of men in society and in personal relationships. Though it is not a self-help book, the concerned reader will find much food for thought that is freeing because its report of key research sheds light on how we got to be the way we are and the potential for letting go of expectations of masculinity that are unrealistic and counterproductive.