He's Scared, She's Scared

Carter and Sokol ( Men Who Can't Love ) argue that fear of commitment affects women as well as men, and that both sexes crave the often conflicting conditions of intimacy and freedom. According to the authors, men tend to be more prone to ``active'' avoidance after winning over a lover. ``Passive'' avoidance, on the other hand, involves choosing someone who is unavailable--a woman falls for a gay man; a man becomes smitten with his married woman boss; or either sex subconsciously chooses as a love object a person who is an active avoider. Using case histories, the authors examine the reasons people avoid commitment and through quizzes encourage readers to determine their ``commitmentphobic'' patterns--narcissistic, claustrophobic, universal, or circumstantial--and explore feelings and fears. The authors give straightforward advice on how to detect commitmentphobia in others and how to move towards true intimacy. The authors' achievement is that they have gone beyond the obvious avoidance patterns to uncover the more subtle ways men and women sabotage love. First serial to New Woman; author tour. (Oct.)