Warren Farrell on Friendship

"Men tuned into women but not tuned into their own hurts usually retained the attitude that women needed special protection."

"Many black men leave because they are financially responsible--not because they are emotionally irresponsible."

"On an unconscious level, the demonization of sexuality usually implies the demonization of males and the victimization of females."

"Counterintuitively, when it comes to a loss of friendships and love, your son is the more vulnerable sex."

"Why did virtually every culture reward its men for enduring violence? So it would have a cadre of people available to protect it in war."

"Men may be way behind in creating choices for themselves, but have actually been quiet supporters of the choices women want for themselves."

"Virtually 100 percent of TV ads that portray only one sex as a jerk portray the man as the jerk."

"Men are not only women's unpaid bodyguards, they actually pay to be a woman's bodyguard."

"The function of gossip is to create an “in group” bond by creating an “out group” enemy."

"Dads were user-friendly for companies, because they could most easily be used."

"When a potential girlfriend hears a guy complain, it violates her instinct to be protected; but when a mom hears her son complain, it triggers her instinct to protect."

"After divorce or loss of a father, both girls and boys experience unhappiness, but especially with divorce, girls’ grief eases within a year or two, while boys’ does not."

"Look under the “Love and Friendship” section and see dozens of cards designed for women to send to women, most bashing men, and virtually none saying anything loving about men."

"Societies in which men were unwilling to dispose of themselves in war were societies that usually got disposed of. Societies that were protected were protected by killers, which is why I call the traditional role of men the role of killer-protector."

"While no vision of the future can be perfect, the goal of The Boy Crisis is to integrate the half century of national discussion about the challenges faced by girls and women with an equally nuanced national discussion about those facing boys and men."

"A single woman who supports herself is called a career woman, while a single man who supports himself is called a playboy…Ironically, a woman who commits and becomes financially dependent is considered more mature than a man who does not commit but is financially independent."

"Today, violence against women is rightly abhorred. But we call violence against men entertainment. Think of football, boxing, wrestling... All are games used to sugarcoat violence against men, originally in need of sugarcoating so our team --or our society --could bribe its best protectors to sacrifice themselves."

"People who get higher pay are more willing to relocate--especially to undesirable locations at the company's behest... A corporate secretary may change companies in the same town; a corporate executive is more likely to change towns with the same company. A talented corporate secretary sees an invitation to relocate as an invitation; a future corporate executive sees an invitation to relocate as an opportunity--and an obligation."

"Throughout history, men learned that survival, respect and women’s love were all achieved by making a killing –whether killing animals, killing enemies, or making a killing on Wall Street . Women received the money that men produced by loving. Men came to feel themselves as unlovable without the money, property or the heroism it took to make them equal to a woman’s love. Women came to associate men spending money on them as a statement of how much they were valued—even loved-- by the man. Her ability to love became her source of security: a diamond is a girl’s best friend. Essentially this dynamic is true in almost all societies and all classes throughout history."