The 'Wimp
Factor': Leftist Psychologist
Says Conservative Men Are 'Femiphobic'
Do conservative men come to their political
beliefs because they are afraid of women? Stephen Ducat, author
of
The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of
Anxious Masculinity, believes that male "femiphobia" is
the cause of the right's ascendance among American men. In his
view, such phenomena as the Bush administration (which he calls
"the most sociopathic American administration in my lifetime"),
Christian fundamentalism and right-wing U.S. policy all spring
from an American "hyper-masculinity."
Dave Ford of the San Francisco Chronicle
describes Ducat's theory as follows:
"Men with the extreme type of
masculinity afraid of
characteristics traditionally
considered feminine --
self-reflection, attunement to
others, appreciation for human
interrelatedness -- may become
sociopaths: those possessed of a
guilt-free capacity to hurt
others for personal gain....In
their most fundamental
iterations, they eschew all forms of
intellectual, political and personal complexity, and show a
fear of all things perceived as
feminine -- including women and
gay men -- that might seem
comical were it not so
dangerous."
Ducat debated Burt Prelutsky, author
of
Conservatives Are from Mars (Liberals Are from San Francisco):
A Hollywood Rightwinger Comes Out of the Closet on
His Side with Glenn Sacks
on January
2.
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