Book Review: The War Against Boys By Signal 11 in Culture Sat Oct 06, 2001 at 05:49:06 PM EST Tags: Books (all tags)
	Short summary: Gender issues in schools, analyzed. Detailed review of feminist political agendas in public schools in the United States, a review of the legal and sociopolitical constructs that have contributed to the present situation. Sommers attempts to provide an alternative ideology to combat perceived negative impact of feminist ideology on society, focusing on young males.

Title: The War Against Boys Author: Christina Hoff Sommers ISBN: 0-684-84956-9 Rating: ** (two stars) Christina Sommers does an excellent job of debunking popular feminist beliefs in american society in her book The War Against Boys. Sommers paints a sobering picture of misguided feminists and educators trying to "regender" boys to be more politically correct (more like girls, often). She also demonstrates that these attempts often cause serious harm to young boys, and studies conducted and taylored by leading feminists cannot entirely conceal the damage that is occuring, both to boys' academic performance, and their morality. Sommers attempts to expose the underlying reasons why feminists today feel the need to resocialize, regender, and reconstruct masculinity today - to chilling effect. Sommers is also very adept at exposing the flawed methodology of many commonly-cited scientific studies, and argues convincingly that political agendas have corrupted some major organizations, including the Mclean/Harvard group and the US Department of Education. She also touches, but does not detail, the massive amounts of public funding being diverted to further specific groups' goals, such as those of the National Organization for Women. The picture that emerges from countless workshops, sensitivity training classes, anti-harassment manuals, and other material being sent to educators across the country, detailed in The War Against Boys, is that of a small group of politically active women who feel many (if not all) of society's problems can be traced to men - and a majority of which harbor a general resentment of men. Most stop short of embracing radical feminist ideology - such as that espoused by SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men), but who seem nevertheless determined to try to change what it means to be male in today's society, with disasterous results. However, Sommers' work is marred by frequent logical inconsistencies, and she often extrapolates a conclusion that is not wholly supported by the facts she presents, often resulting in an incomplete argument. Sommers also falls victim to the same logical fallacies she accuses her opponents of; She frequently uses anecdotal evidence to point to a larger problem, although not nearly to the level that many feminists today do. Sommers' work also suffers in that while she is excellent at taking apart the arguments of today's feminist leaders, she provides a poor counter- argument, which is essentially that of a traditionalist. She states modern feminists are "misguided" and demonstrates it well, but leaves only a token and incomplete ideology as a substitute. Sommers makes a good case against modern feminism, and the facts presented in the book by themselves are a condemnation of much of feminist ideology. Her work also points to a serious academic gender gap - pointing out that boys are falling far behind girls in virtually every academic area, at every level - and the gap is growing. Although Sommers does not say so directly, the reader can easily reach a conclusion that this is because many anti-male feminists seek to "turn the tables", placing men into the role of second class citizens. Based on what is occuring in the american educational system today, this goal stands a serious chance of succeeding (reviewer's opinion). Sommers' conclusion could best be summed up by a quote by Mary Gordon, an ardent and orthodox feminist, who writes "...We must love them [boys] as they are, often without knowing what it is that's made them that way." Gordon finds her maternal love and her feminist ideology at odds, concluding that, in fact, boys and girls are different - and boys cannot be "regendered" or molded into an politically correct image of masculinity. However, Sommers' poor analysis of the facts, and excessive political banter prevents this book from receiving a good grade from this reviewer. If you buy this book, buy it for the footnotes and citations - a veritable goldmine, but avoid its emotive arguments.

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