Men on Strike: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream--and Why It Matters.

• Author: Puterbaugh, Dolores T.
• Position: Book review

MEN ON STRIKE

Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream--and Why It Matters

BY HELEN SMITH

ENCOUNTER BOOKS

2013, 218 PAGES, $9.99 (PAPERBACK)

Is our current culture a Lake Woebegone for feminists, where the women are strong and the men sit around with their baseball caps backwards playing video games all night long, but the children inexplicably are above average because their morns are, well, awesome? Is there a bifurcation in the culture comprising hardworking, ambitious women and slacker men or, as author Helen Smith--a psychologist with experience in forensics, human development, and men's issues in treatment--posits, are a great many men simply on strike? The strike of the title is more than a nod to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and Smith openly describes many men's exodus from the expectations of society as "going Gait" This shifts the discussion from the "what's wrong with men these days;' to one of, "what has changed in society that would lead half of the population either to check out or dream of checking out?"

Her argument is compelling and the supporting data often egregious. Some of the contentions will be familiar to many readers. For instance, that the current education system is unfriendly to the energy and learning style typical of young boys. For decades, many of us have argued that boys are overmedicated, overly punished, and, in essence, discriminated against...