Signs of the Times

MASCULINITY CODE IS OUTMODED

SAYS

AUTHOR OF "AMERICAN MALE"

Ed. Note: In TVia No. 42 Sheila reviewed and I commented on the book "The American Male". Recently I ran across a regular news- paper book review of it. It was so succinct and to the point that I thought I would reprint it here as a further urging to get it and read it.

Myron Brenton's "The American Male" is said to pave the way for American men to liberate themselves from the masculinity trap that "has been undermining true manliness and restricting the inner core of men for too long."

Outmoded Code

Brenton says men in America are saddled with an outmoded code of masculinity that cripples their personalities and restricts their enjoy- ment of life at every significant level of experience. This explosive theme is based on two years' research among men of all social and economic classes as well as extensive interviews with psychiatrists and other members of the psycho-sociological communities.

According to the American idea of maleness, a man is supposed to be a strong silent type who keeps his problems to himself and rules his women with an iron hand. He shuns any attitude or activity that lacks a distinctly masculine label. This means that he almost never experiences a deep human contact, because he has learned to suppress the requisite feelings of tenderness and warmth. These are "feminine" feelings, and the American male bears a certain hostility toward anything feminine, including, inevitably, females themselves.

How the contemporary male can resolve these manifold contradic- tions, overcome his rigidity and fear of emotional commitment and approach life with flexibility and fullness of response, is the subject of this fascinating book.

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