Lionel Tiger wrote The Decline of Males - I disagree with him about a lot of things (he is an essentialist, whereas I am more inclined to see social constructionist perspectives on gender). He also tends to take an evolutionary psychology perspective, which again I tend to see as limiting and reductionist.
But I disagree with him the most around the Male Studies issue - he is one of the architects of this effort to create a "new" academic study of men. However, it's not that I don't support the academic study of men, rather it's that the Male Studies people are terribly anti-feminism (not unlike the MRA people).
There is a tendency to blame women (and feminism especially) for the struggles men are facing in current culture. I don't buy into that as wholly as they do. I see some areas where feminism has gone too far (interestingly enough, it's the "fathers rights" area, where until recently men has totally conceded that domain to women).
Anyway, listen to him for yourself.
Welcome back to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast. In this week’s episode, we talk to Dr. Lionel Tiger, author of the book, The Decline of Males: The First Look at an Unexpected New World for Men and Women. Dr. Tiger is the Charles Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University. He has written several articles and books on how human biology effects social interaction.
In this podcast, Dr. Tiger discusses the ways he believes men in the West are in decline and the reasons why they’re falling behind women. We also talk about a new academic discipline Dr. Tiger is working on bringing to universities called “Male Studies,” as well as the small, but growing Men’s Rights Movement in many Western countries.
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