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What is a man? What is a real man? Is masculinity a biological given or an ideological construction? In this treatise, feminist philosopher Elisabeth Badinter seeks to define manhood at a time when sex-role distinctions have become increasingly ambiguous and age-old stereotypes about masculinity have been shattered. Drawing on biological examples, historical and sociological analyses, fiction and biography, Badinter offers a highly suggestive account of the new man which our century is in the process of inventing. Exploring the shifting inscriptions of male identity in the popular imagination, Badinter examines changing role models for masculine identity - from the cowboy of the 1950s to the Terminator of the 1990s. She 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 behaviours traditionally labelled "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.