Warren Farrell and Men Today

 

A founding father of the men’s movement speaks on the status and challenges of men today


No one can deny the importance of Dr Warren Farrell and his seminal book, The Myth of Male Power, to the movement for men’s equality. So it is an event when he is interviewed by Paul Elam, an eminent voice of that movement today.

Yet my response to this interview was, frankly, disappointment. In fact, I was flabbergasted. Does Dr Farrell really believe that the massive corruption of family law and the horrifying injustices it inflicts on men (confiscating their children, incarceration without trial, plunder, penury, homelessness, and more) can be ameliorated by more therapists or teaching men better “communication” skills? Does he really see #MeToo, a movement dedicated to violating constitutional rights by inflicting knowingly false criminal accusations against legally innocent people, is morally equivalent to men voicing their views and grievances on the internet? I was pleased to see Elam remind him that, in the age of MGTOW, exploding male incarceration, mass male suicide, and now Lindsay Clancy, something more serious threatens men and their families (and all of us) than hurt “feelings”.

I was equally troubled that few men responded in the chat by pointing out any of this. Instead they found his prescriptions appropriate and apparently adequate. I fear this reflects a credulous acceptance of therapy culture by too many men and failure to distinguish what is incidental from what is truly serious.

Dr Farrell has a PhD in political science, and yet Paul (a therapist) had to remind him of the political dimension to all this. In fact, for all his brilliance, Warren Farrell has never criticized the mass abuse of government power in family court and elsewhere in the law. This has helped him get a hearing from mainstream media and from opportunists like Jordon Peterson and other establishment figures. Yet it never translates into pushing the matter any further along, like exploring and exposing the most serious threats to men and children (and again, all of us). He also seems to have a lingering soft spot for the feminism he once served. (I would like to have heard his response to Janice Fiamengo’s new book, The Goddess That Failed, which documents her insistence that feminism did not go astray and cannot be reformed. It was hate-filled from the start and must be “destroyed root and branch”.) If I did not know better, I would also be tempted to suggest that Warren’s influence may play some role in why the state’s abuses of power against men and fathers never abates but only worsens.

Warren Farrell would be doing an enormous service, and perhaps earn a place in history, rather than disappearing into obscurity like so many others, if he were to use the profile and influence he has built up over the years to confront the political class and establishment media with the full force of what men must endure today and what may soon be the fate of all of us.

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Jack Donovan, author of The Way of Men, joins “The Mansplainers” for a wide-ranging discussion about masculinity, fatherhood, male solidarity and the many forms it can take: friendship, sports, gangs, military service, churches, workplaces, men’s clubs, secret societies, revolutionary movements, and more.

Why are boys and young men so naturally drawn to gangs, crews, teams, clubs, and other male groups? Can the same impulses toward brotherhood, loyalty, strength, risk, and belonging be directed toward both constructive and destructive ends? And what happens when men lack meaningful relationships and associations with other men?

Donovan discusses: his famous idea that “the way of men is the way of the gang”; why men need other men to help establish standards and arbitrate honor; the importance of fathers modeling male friendship for their sons; physical strength and martial arts: and the difference between healthy male solidarity and online communities built around perpetual anger.

Bradley also reflects on his childhood fascination with New York City’s gang and graffiti culture and asks how society can provide boys and men with constructive alternatives that preserve brotherhood, identity, challenge, earned status, and the feeling of having someone at your back.

The conversation also explores why independent associations of men have historically been viewed with suspicion, the role of virtue and honor in male groups, and Donovan’s warning against men becoming addicted to outrage and “practicing unhappiness.”

Finally, Jack offers practical advice for men looking for a tribe of their own: consider where a group is leading its members, whether its values correspond with the life you actually want, and whether loyalty and commitment are genuinely reciprocal.

We also discuss what happens when men need association with other men and are denied it.

https://substack.com/redirect/9800fed1-7aaa-4691-97b2-c0c11b7fac81?j=eyJ1IjoiMXBvcTY0In0.bpX_Ri4UrVVzEcwn2tPJZmntoRqzSx0aLRc9mOX6Iw8

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