Masculinity Reconstructed

While Harvard Medical School faculty member Levant (Between Father and Child) covers a lot of familiar territory in this examination of American manhood, which he considers to be in crisis, he adds significant new insights as well. The principal reason he cites for many men's failure to establish good relationships, especially with women, lies in their lack of emotional empathy: they tend to act rather than feel. And the socialization that has caused them to repress much emotion results in their expressing feelings in one of the few outlets available to them, anger. But ``traditional man'' has many valuable qualities that should not be disparaged, he notes in this study written with freelancer Kopecky. In his own clinical work, Levant has evolved a therapy for men who feel emotionally stunted and reports that he has had considerable success with those who wanted to effect a change. His clearheaded approach could prove helpful for men ready to reconstruct. (Mar.)