cover image MEN FAKE FOREPLAY...: And Other Lies That Are True

MEN FAKE FOREPLAY...: And Other Lies That Are True

Mike Dugan, . . Rodale, $15.95 (128pp) ISBN 978-1-59486-074-4

Based on Dugan's comedy performance of the same name, this quick little look at men's role in the battle of the sexes actually offers more than funny vignettes and witty one-liners. After admitting his emotional shortcomings ("I don't have a lot of relationship skills because all of my training is in casual sex") and his domestic failures ("I've done my laundry in shampoo"), Dugan takes on such issues as communication and commitment in a tone that is both friendly and frank ("I believe that owning a dick entitles me to nothing but a responsibility to govern it"). Going along his observational comedy way, he takes potshots at what he sees as the hypocrisies of Howard Stern and relationship guru John Gray and bemoans the fact that some teenage boys get their sexual education from pornography because "adult males have abdicated their responsibility to represent alternatives." A comic on stage and a moralist at heart, Dugan wants to help men "to somehow reconcile a naturally unwieldy sex drive with a sense of responsibility to those we love." The result is an enjoyable effort that harks back to the Golden Rule: "the measure of a man will be found in how he treats others." Agent, Mel Berger. (Nov.)