Standup Guy: The Male Mind and Its Enemies

Former Esquire columnist Segell writes of his quest for the ""standup guy"" who ""combines the best of the old masculine codes with the fresh personal insight necessary to win the love of the New Woman."" A ""veteran gender-war correspondent,"" he battles the ""ideological pointy heads and academics"" who have created ""PC-poisoned"" men with withered penises. Segell recounts his experiences at various male gabfests, including New Warrior training at ""Man Week"" (where he can ""drop trou"" with some guys to talk shop about the penis) and a Promise Keepers rally. Although he sees glimmerings of the grail (the Alpha Male, ""retrofitted for a newly egalitarian world""), ultimately all the new versions of masculinity on offer fail his test. Romance has fallen on hard times as men discover that women's equality makes them impotent; according to Segell, the newest sex-war strategy among young white male college-educated urbanites is to withhold sex. The Standup Guy ends up sounding a lot like a Promise Keeper (without all that inconvenient talk about Jesus): Segell calls for a new code of ""sexual manners"" by which men married to ""lady doctors and lawyers,"" for example, can find their way back to turning women on by being sexily dominant, kind and understanding. After using evolutionary biology to explain why guys are no good at housecleaning, Segell says that shouldn't prevent them from being involved dads. This one's for readers whose idea of fun is a lengthy session sharing sexual angst with their frat brothers. Agent, Kris Dahl of ICM; 5-city author tour; 20-city radio tour. (May)