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Examining changing role models for masculine identity--from cowboy in the 1950s to Terminator in the 1990s, from flesh-and-blood man to machine--this book suggests that men need new role models and that sufficient room needs to be left for the expression of male vulnerability, a psychic space that would accept attitudes and behaviors traditionally labeled as "feminine." This new model, Badinter argues, may reduce the profound effects of homophobia and misogyny.

ELISABETH BADINTER, internationally known feminist philosopher and historian, teaches at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. LYDIA DAVIS is the author of Almost No Memory.