The Male Ego

Psychoanalyst Gaylin believes that the centuries-old male roles of protector, provider/hunter and procreator no longer instill pride. In his diagnosis, modern man, trapped in an obsolete, maladaptive emotional system, seeks an ego-boost elsewhere--in sports, in sex-as-performance, or in the narcissistic reassurances of ``male jewelry'' such as trophy wives, corner offices and membership in exclusive clubs. In a revealing, unsettling probe, utilizing clinical case material, Gaylin ( Rediscovering Love ) puts forward unfashionable views. Men, he contends, have an omnipresent fear of showing cowardice, a phenomenon that he says is rare in women. Yet he rejects the ``primal man'' extolled by the men's movement as a dangerous anachronism. Gaylin finds men everywhere sinking into depression, self-directed rage and feelings of helplessness or failure. Citing our culture's lack of male rites of passage, he sweepingly calls for a redefinition of manhood in achievable terms, a task he leaves to others. (Oct.)