In my interview with Dr. Warren Farrell, we explore the “The Myth of Male Power“. This podcast with Dr. Farrell was quite fascinating and provided me insight into an area that I had little knowledge or understanding of. His perspective really opened my eyes about the socialization of both the sexes. Dr. Farrell dialogs with me about the expectations of males in society and the roles we play in order to be successful with the opposite sex. He also provides a fascinating perspective on why he believes that neither sex has power over the other and that our power is only in our ability to control our own life.
Dr. Farrell tells a very interesting story about a woman who was attending one of his lectures and got up to tell her story about her brother who was the focus of her fathers attention and admiration. Her father who was a prominent physician so wanted her brother to become a physician just like him. The father paid more attention to her brother who had originally stated that he wanted to become a physician. Then one day he announced that he no longer had a desire to become a physician and the father was devastated. Jokingly, and to win her fathers approval and admiration she told her father that she would become a physician, but deep down inside she was really only doing it so that she could win her father’s approval. Interestingly enough, she followed through with her degree and become a physician. She now states that she is in her 40’s and is not happy with this chosen profession, and would like to change vocations.
Dr. Farrell was attempting to emphasize through this story that statistically men are usually the ones who take on the jobs out of a sense of obligation or family pressures. Without sounding sexist the statistics prove this fact and this story illustrates “The Myth of Male Power” and provides interesting insights into how our viewpoint and perspective about male power in society is probably distorted.
I hope that you will enjoy this podcast with Dr. Farrell and if you are interested in learning more about his research, workshops, lectures and CD’s, please click here for more information.
