Introduction

This introduction covers some key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is about men and therapy. It starts by saying that being a man is a problem today, and that therapy is a problem too. The reason why they are problematic is that both share a context of late crumbling patriarchy, and that patriarchy is itself problematic. For real change to take place in a man, he has to be completely initiated into a new way of being, unique to him. There are two contradictions dealt in the book. One is the contradiction between the oppressive nature of the masculine role and the transformational possibilities within every individual man. The other is the contradiction between the oppressive nature of much therapy and the transformational possibilities within therapy.