What Men Really Think: About Women, Love, Sex, Themselves - Hardcover

Baker, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671702556 ISBN 13: 9780671702557

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1992

Synopsis

Interviews with one hundred men discuss men's thoughts, feelings, and attitudes towards women, sex, love, male role models, friendship, and emotion

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

One hundred men speak anonymously and candidly about their ``core issues.'' Here, Baker continues his oral-report format of 'Nam (1981), Cops (1985), and Women (1989)--with mixed results. Leading off with a chapter entitled ``Women,'' a plethora of familiar complaints against feminism is unveiled: Women, Baker's interviewees say, are too governed by hormones to be responsible; women in corporations are butch; women are derailed by emotional issues. Most of these men seem to be still manning the bunkers after the war has long passed them by. In the chapter ``Men''- -which Baker introduces by saying, ``men live in fear for much of their lives: fear of stepping out of narrow boundaries''--we hear that ``I'm envious of men who can touch each other''; ``men are raised to sacrifice''; and ``a lot of women don't understand that men have dreams.'' These speakers sound middle-class, without exception. The book comes alive with the chapter on sex. Here, many stories of uncertainties and of experimentation at age 11 or 12 reveal much, and are most affecting. One man tells of a persistent tumescence in grade school: it was necessary to concentrate on Sister Mary Concepta so he could stand up from his desk. The next chapter, ``Love,'' is equally engrossing, tackling the issues of romance versus sex (``The big lie in romance is that there is only one person for you''); courtship (``I'd like to find a girl and fall in love, but...they're all shopping at the holistic market and pretend they want to be organic and spiritual, but they're really judgmental''); and disaster (``when I [woke up] the only thing in the apartment was the bed I was sleeping in. She'd taken everything''). Included also are excellent chapters on dads, homophobia, abortion, and physical education. Fun for men to check themselves out, and for curious women to have a look--and could soar high on the crest of the men's movement. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Baker ( Nam ) has a talent for getting his fellow males to open up, making these interviews with 100 anonymous men revealing and intriguing. The topics include, along with those listed in the subtitle, homophobia, abortion, fatherhood and physical education. The men who speak here, middle class and middle-aged, express admiration of women and are concerned that some factions of the feminist movement either don't like men or themselves want to exercise power for its own sake. The interviewees enjoy friendships with other men, but many are strongly anti-gay. A large percentage recall fathers who contributed little sustenance to their growing up and are determined not to repeat the pattern. Women readers will be distressed to learn that exceedingly few of Baker's men favor monogamy, even if they are married.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0671702556
• ISBN 13: 9780671702557
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320