Sex,Lies and Stereotypes: Challenging Views of Women, Men, and Relationships - Softcover

Wood, Gary W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1843308940 ISBN 13: 9781843308942

Publisher: New Holland Publishers Ltd, 2005

Synopsis

Sex, Lies and Stereotypes explores the shifting nature of gender role stereotypes and changing attitudes to sexuality, addressing the myths and the 'black and white' thinking that so many of us adopt in relation to male and female roles. It proposes a new way of perceiving life that could potentially revolutionize the way that we interact as humans. Dr Gary Wood asserts that 'men are from earth and women are from earth; it's high time we got over it.' He suggests that pop psychology focuses too much on the differences between the sexes, and argues that our relationships could be transformed if we viewed individuals for their personalities rather than merely their anatomy, as aspects of femininity can spill over into males, and vice versa. This book challenges us to question our assumptions and accept that there are grey areas in most people's gender identities.

About this title

From the Author:

We begin relationships by considering how much we have in common with another person, viewing everything through a ‘similarity-coloured’ lens. Relationships tend to end either when our differences outweigh the similarities or sometimes merely when our perceptions change. We stop focussing on the similarities that brought us together. Instead we obsess about petty differences that force us apart. I wrote ‘Sex, Lies and Stereotypes’ because, having considered the evidence, I concluded that we don’t have to buy in to ‘the battle of the sexes’ myth. Overall our similarities far outweigh our differences. Relationships shouldn’t have to be a war-zone in which we negotiate a truce. In the book, I maintain that our future lies in focussing on our common ground. Our personal lives could be transformed if we could just focus on partnership rather than on alien-nation. After all, we routinely use the ‘word’ partner, so why are we still hooked on the battle of the sexes?

‘Sex, Lies and Stereotypes’ argues that idealised roles of ‘real men’ and ‘real women’ may be seriously bad for our health, quite literally! Effectively from an early age we learn to live half of the human experience. However, much of what we read about the roles of men and women and relationships is rooted in fairy-tale myth rather than scientific fact. It’s not ‘self-help’ to encourage us to dwell on gender-roles of the past; it’s self-harm. Our personalities, homes, dreams, skills and ambitions cannot and should not be summed up by the shape our genitals! Instead of just two options, the book proposes a whole spectrum of possibility: a gender-role rainbow! It even offers free non-surgical gender-reassignment for every reader.

‘Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: Challenging Views of Men, Women and Relationships’ is intended to provide an antidote by exploding long-standing myths. The book also departs from the usual self-help formula, as it does not discriminate between straight and gay relationships. It’s intended to be accessible and entertaining but is designed to raise the stakes in the roles and relationships debate. It offers comprehensive journey through the ‘ologies’ in search of the facts together with original poems, a brand new tongue-in-cheek gender mythology, and advice on improving communications. To complete the whole package the familiar male/female symbol has been reworked to reflect directly the book contents. It’s one occasion when you are supposed to judge a book by its cover.

This book begins and ends with the provocative question: Are you one of girls, one of the boys, one in a million or just one of the guys? Isn’t it time to find out?

About the Author:

Dr Gary Wood (BSc(Hons), PgC, ILTM, PhD) is a social psychologist specializing in cognitive style (the way we view the world), gender stereotypes and attitudes to sex and sexuality. He has taught psychology, research methods, and team building at several UK universities and colleges, and is currently programme co-ordinator for Psychological Studies and for Sexual Health Studies at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Birmingham. Dr Wood is on the advisory board (psychological consultant) to The Lovers' Guide website. He is based in Smethwick, West Midlands.

About this edition

• Publisher: New Holland Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1843308940
• ISBN 13: 9781843308942
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176