Of gender wars and warriors

Author: Roy F. Baumeister

Publisher: Oxford University Press (2010)

Excerpt:

“The question is provocative today because hardly anyone dares to suggest that men are superior to women in any respect. Political correctness permits us to say that women are better than men at one thing or another. But it’s mostly taboo even to suggest that men are better at anything more important than opening jars and killing bugs.”

Is there anything good about men? An intriguing question indeed that Roy Baumeister sets out to answer…or rather explore in his book ‘Is there anything good about men? — How cultures flourish by exploiting men’


The books on this kind of subject that usually dot the shelves tend to be very predictable, and usually very critical of men. This book is quite different, and will certainly appeal to men who’ll want to know just HOW they’ve been exploited, while the predictably anguished or at least startled, females would want to check it out, if for no other reason than to bash it.

Conscious of the inherent controversy that accompanies any debate on gender issues, Baumeister is cautious in setting pace to a topic that is at risk of being easily misunderstood. This attempt, however, takes the writer into repeated bouts of explanations, which at times come across as an attempt to placate the lurking feminists and makes an otherwise worthwhile excursion seem like an apologetic effort.

Nonetheless, the book does bring out a fresh perspective and compels its female audience to re-evaluate or at least reconsider the men’s side of the story. In doing so, Baumeister, who is a Professor of Psychology at the Florida State University and among the few most cited psychologists in the world (which gives an obvious weight to his words),launches the reader into exploring a viewpoint where neither men are superior to women nor women to men.

He talks of equality while asserting that both genders are essentially different from each other, especially in their potential to perform different tasks. This is in contrast to a perspective on gender that had been a rage late in the twentieth century, according to which both genders are equal in every respect.

In this pursuit, Baumeister tries to touch on a more relevant point throughout the debate, that of the success of a culture. He asserts that it is important to realise the distinction in gender roles for the sake of a larger cultural salvation. He digs out this assertion later through the book by citing examples where cultures have flourished by realising the different yet equally relevant roles suited to each gender.

The writer argues that cultures have advanced by successfully exploiting men. From being breadwinners to protecting borders, men have always been put on the front lines, and punished when they fail to perform their assigned duties.

But the question arises about the relevance of Baumeister’s work in a society such as ours where men can seemingly get away with rape and murder, and ministers still have the cheek to get up in the middle of the national assembly and talk about how women torture men!

One does feel that Baumeister needs to revisit his research with such staunchly patriarchal societies under the glass. Although the writer does make references at places throughout the book to such cases, there is still a lot left to desire.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2011.