Transvestia

US publisher about to put out Miss Cox' version, so you'd have to import it at some extra cost.

THE MALE MYTH, by H. M. Ruitenbeek, Dell Publishing Co., New York, Paperback #5488, 205 pp., plus 14 of notes and bibliography; 75¢, (1967).

This is another look-alike, or perhaps me-too, for THE AMERICAN MALE reviewed in TVia #42. In this case, the older book is by far the better, and the strongest point in favor of Ruitenbeek is the low price. There are good things in this book, to be sure, despite the author's bias as a psychoanalyst and devout Freudian. He seems on page 21 to be rather startled at the rise of aggressive women "oddly enough, in the post-Freudian age, when women have learned that they are supposed to be passive, receptive, supportive and loving.' I would think he was joking, except that he apparently overlooks the fact that Dr. Freud didn't even understand his own wife!

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To his credit, he comes up with some nice in- sights. On page 43, he points out the ambivalent regard of our society to the distinctively feminine, "often equated with inferior." This lead, of course, to diminished masculinity meaning lessened worth. Other gems appear as on page 104, "the male may be recognizing that certain of the masculine qualities ascribed to him in his social role are not necess- arily his as an individual," and on page 108, con- cerning American insistence on regulating sexual behavior hiding the fear that the person not so reg- ulated might "permit himself an overflow of tender- ness that would run counter to his conception of masculinity." Such flashes are all too rare, but you'd get your 75¢ worth at least.

THE MASCULINE MYSTIQUE, by Robert Lipsyte, New Amer- ican Library, New York, 128 pp, $3.50.

This one I was lucky on, as I picked up a copy

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