I am indebted to the thousands of readers I have had over the years at www.drhelen.blogspot.com and www.pjmedia.com who have read and commented on probably thousands of posts and sent hundreds of emails giving me insight into how the male mind ticks. Many of you know who you are and some, but not all, have asked that your names not be used, but I do want to thank you because without my readers and those men who so graciously shared their lives and feelings with me, I would not have been able to put this book together. I am also grateful for all of the clients I have had over my many years of practice who helped me to understand more deeply what it is to be male in modern American culture.
Thanks very much to Encounter Books for giving me the opportunity to write about the men’s issues that I hold so dear. I am especially grateful to Roger Kimball, who never doubted that men would be interested in this topic when other publishers told me that only women cared about issues of gender rights, relationships, marriage and culture. “Men,” they said, “don’t buy such books.” I hope this book proves them wrong and, more important, sets the stage for other authors and activists who can take this fight to the next level. Special thanks also to Katherine Wong, Lauren Miklos and Elaine Ruxton at Encounter Books.
Thanks very much to my friends and colleagues who have helped and encouraged me to write this book. Amy Alkon had been ever cheerful and encouraging and readily shared her ideas on men’s issues over the years. Vox Day was quick to help with his keen insights on why men don’t marry, and shared his illustrations and data that added to this discussion of how men see the world. Thanks to Stacy Campfield, Michael J. Higdon, Glenn Sacks and Carnell Smith for changing the landscape of the men’s rights field, for fighting for justice, and for providing me with material for this book. Special thanks to Sophia Brown for preparing my manuscript.
I am especially indebted to Christina Hoff Sommers, who shared her immense knowledge on men and college with me and who knew what was coming down the pike more than ten years ago. Stephen Baskerville also added his insight into the marriage and divorce industry, which was most helpful. I am also grateful to Robert Shibley and his organization, FIRE, which fights back against discrimination and stands up for free speech in college and university settings.
Finally, I am grateful to my family, who listened to me talk for years about men’s rights—sometimes to the point where I was really annoying—but they listened anyway. Thanks to Janet, Walter, Kathy, Joey and Anne for their time.
But most of all, thanks to my husband, Glenn Reynolds, and daughter, Julia, who not only listened to all my talk about men’s rights but also called me on it when I wasn’t following through on my ideology. Only they know what I am talking about here, and I will leave it at that.