When he did express his concerns, they were dismissed as his “male midlife crisis.” Essentially, though, women’s liberation and the male midlife crisis were the same search—for personal fulfillment, common values, mutual respect, love. But while women’s liberation was thought of as promoting identity, the male midlife crisis was thought of as an

When the issue of sexual harassment surfaced, then, we were told “men don’t ‘get it’ ” when, in fact, neither sex “gets” it. Men don’t get women’s fears of harassment that stem from the passive role; women don’t get men’s fears of sexual rejection that stem from the initiating role. Each sex is so preoccupied with its own vulnerability that neither

Was a hero a servant? Yes. The very word “hero” comes from the Greek ser-ow, from which comes our word “servant,” as well as “slave” and “protector.”6 A hero was basically a slave whose purpose was to serve and protect. To protect the community in general, women and children in particular. In exchange, heroes received the respect and love of those

In 1920 women in the United States lived one year longer than men.3 Today women live seven years longer.4 The male-female life-span gap increased 600 percent.

Stage I religions had to restrict premarital sex because premarital sex led to children without a guarantee for the children’s and woman’s protection. In Stage II, birth control allowed sex to become more associated with fulfillment, communication, and spiritual connection—goals of the Stage II relationship. So Stage II religions can focus less on

The more beautiful the woman was when she was younger, the more she had been treated like a celebrity—what I call a genetic celebrity—and therefore the more she felt like a has-been. It’s harder to lose something you’ve had than never to have it to begin with. As she became increasingly invisible, she felt increasingly disposable and increasingly

Stage I societies had a dilemma: marriage guaranteed women economic security for a lifetime but failed to guarantee men sexual gratification for a lifetime. So Stage I societies created a marital deal: what I call the “Marital Triangle.” The Marital Triangle was the husband, wife, and mistress (or, depending on the culture, the geisha, prostitute,

Billions of boys throughout the industrialized world will be adrift with a sense of purposelessness, depression and destructiveness—a “failure to launch”;

In Stage I, divorces were not allowed, so men’s affairs did not put women’s economic security in jeopardy; in Stage II, affairs could lead to divorce, so men’s affairs did place women’s economic security in jeopardy. We did not want political leaders who would be role models for behavior that would put women’s economic security in jeopardy.