ABSTRACT
Despite social change, men are still viewed as superior to women. Whereas women wage battles for economic, political, and social equality, men wield the power that often determines the outcome of the fight. All roles are made up of both rights and responsibilities, but both men and women perceive the rights and privileges of the male role as enviable, desirable, and well worth the responsibilities associated with the role. Men have careers; women have jobs. Men are breadwinners; women are bread bakers. Men are sexual leaders; women are sexual followers. A man’s home is his castle. Father knows best. Is this the accurate story? The male mystique is based on a rigid set of expectations that, as we will see, few men can attain. The social and psychological consequences of striving for the impossible plus the impractical can be devastating. We will see that the role that appears to offer so many rewards also has its deadly side. In discovering more about this role, we can understand that a men’s liberation movement is not a contradiction in terms.
