European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 18, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Anthony ast Chan it the author of How men fool. The new Man How much is Media hype by Glenn Collins new York times the new Man said an Many Astrachan. Snot Only capable of sensitivity intimacy is also among other things one who has abandoned or transcended most traditional male sex roles and the male attempt to monopolize Power and he supports women s quests for Independence and Equality Wilh More than lip and just How Many naw men Are there i would guess that Only live to 10 percent of men come he said judging from his extrapolations from Public opinion polls marketing surveys and the interviews he did for his new Book Howman feel their response to women s demands for Equality and Power. The new Man does exist but he s nowhere near As prevalent As the Media hype has made him out to be said Astrachan who Isle viewed nearly 400 men and Erma Bombeck women during nine years to produce his 440-Page Book it s an overview at the stale of men s reactions to recent decades of change in women s roles. The Book surveys male responses to the increasing numbers of women in the armed services in Blue Collar and service jobs and in management and professions occupations. It also examines changing family roles and he budding of he men s movement it is the combination of competence and sexuality in women that men seem to find so Terri Licali threatening leading some men to try 1o transform women at work to the More non threatening roles of Mother wife or daughter Astrachan said. Even men who in Thair lives have demonstrated support for women 3 Equality May display negative feelings Aboul women s entry into traditional masculine occupations or about women s changes in roles Astrachan said. The negative feelings include anger fear and envy and one Way they Are expressed is through overt and Covert hostility. In his interviews Blue Collar men expressed the most open hostility toward women who Are working in traditionally Malo occupations but he also found resistance irom doctors lawyers and architects Many other men did express positive feelings about changes in women s roles to said ranging irom Pride admiration identification and pleasure to ref. As when a Wile s Al Igor salary helps to pay the Bills " Many of the men he interviewed in occupations As diverse As Soldier factory worker and a Csc expressed support and acceptance for women s attempts to achieve Equality. I think there is an increasing number of men open to ideas of Equality in the workplace and at Home even it they Aren t All out he said. A lot of Itice have been turned on to these ideas by what has been happening Wilh their daughters or this is True of Astrachan who is 54, an editor at medical economics Magazine and a former foreign correspondent for the Washington Post. He first became aware of the issues of women s Equality because of Susan s trials and tribulations he said referring to his second wife the writer Susan Jacoby when they Ware married both were reporters at 7/w Post and in the Book Astrachan presents his account of Jacoby s struggles to achieve career Equality with him before and after he was assigned As the paper s Moscow , the two left the paper and became free Lance writers in the Book Astrakhan described his feelings when Jacoby s career soared for the first Oil years of our marriage i was much further up the career ladder than she was but after 1974 she was often More in demand As a free Lancer than i was the one year she made More Money than i did t was delighted on one level but Felt that she saw me As less powerful on he added in the Book my difficulties in accepting her As my equal were one of the reasons our marriage broke they were divorced in 1981. Astrachan began his research on the fledgling men s movement in the mid-1970s, and his delaites analysis in the Book reveals it to be Liny troubled and he said not an influential movement in the sense that the women s movement has made real changes in he added Many women could identify with the men s movement but few men can identify with the men s movement since in general men Are better Oil in society than nevertheless the men s movement is valuable for its ideas he said valuable Orris attn Chen wafd he had lots of regrets about the kind of "1950s father tie was to his two sons now 28 and 30, from his first marriage. When i got to the chapter in the Book on fathering i was forced to come to terms Wilh the fad that i had fallen Short of my own goals and nevertheless one of the most hopeful signs for the future he said is the increase in the number of new fathers referring to men who Are taking on a More equal share in raising their children. These men have become More involved Astrachan said because heir working wives Are demanding help because so Many men fell their own fathers weren t emotionally there when they were growing Astrachan finds this a positive sign because our fear of female Power is based on fear of the All powerful Mother. Until men take on Hail the responsibility for children rearing this fear will be for the Sake of this Story we will Call the High school Central. We Wilt place i somewhere in the Midwest say has a football learn a band a latin club and until his moment it had a senior class of about 200. To make a Point we Are going to let Central High school assume the Burden of All the teen agers who will die in one year in accidents involving Drunken driving. There will be no Sunlo class at Central this year. There will be no senior class for the next 45 years. By that time 9,000 Young people won l live to see their diplomas. Half of them May not have taken a drink or have driven the car. They will he the victims of Drunken Drivers. Amanda will be one of them. She always believed you had to come Home Wilh tote same boy who look you to a dance. She did t Stop to think that the Young boy who showed up at her door sober was not the same boy five hours later who could t get the car key in the ignition by himself. The Junior class prophecy said Pam was going to be the next supreme court Justice. She did t Fike her image. She was tired of being considered out of it so she accepted a ride Home from a picnic with a boy who fell asleep Al the wheel of a car with a Beer can in his hand. Pam s head went through tha Windshield. Had Andy been born is would have been in the class of �017, but his Mother Fra died a member of the 1994 class never had the Chance to marry or give birth to him. She was Riding a bicycle at dusk when a Motorist who drank Loo much at his retirement party ran her Down. Central High school closed its doors in 2029 As its enrolment steadily decreased. The Halls echoed Wilh school songs that were never Sung valedictorians who never spoke and cheers that never were heard. But More than that were the promises of 9,000 destinies that never were to be fulfilled. The people of this country Champion the lives of helpless seals unborn babies abandoned dogs and cats abused children alcoholics the elderly and the disease Ridden. When will we weep Tor the phantom classes at Central High the would have beens and the should have beens who thought death was a companion to old age. To be factual i would have to Point out that in the 45 years thai the senior classes of Central were wiped out. 405,000 Young people Between the Ages of 15 and 24 also would have died Elim Laiing the need for 44 More Central High schools. When you add to that the number of parents Brothers Sisters grandparents friends and lovers who died with them the toll of human misery is staggering. That s not a Pun. It s a reminder. 319m. Lea Ancon tymm syn Kili monday August 1b, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 17
