The Disposable Male

The Disposable Male
Michael Gilbert
The Hunter Press
ISBN: 0-977652-3-7
Non-Fiction, Relationships, Current Events
Reviewed by Mona Lisa Safai

In today’s modern society, the often disorienting messages that exist between in the gender sexual divide led Michael Gilbert, a Senior Fellow at the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California to write his latest book, The Disposable Male. His book explores the marginalization of men, overburdening of women, and failings relationships as symptoms of a larger plague-evolutionary distancing.
Throughout the pages, Gilbert tackles various subjects from sex, workspace, abortion, military, and education and concludes that the blended genders have had an adverse effect on male masculinity. No longer do men know their place in society because their roles have been invaded on by women. As Gilbert succinctly puts it, “[d]egendered in school, aped at sport, denied unique rites, competing in a sex-neutered workplace, there are few arenas left where a man can define himself.”
Gilbert’s attitude throughout the book is difficult to take at times. He appears to undermine the many struggles and achievements women have made in contemporary society. Adding insult to injury, they should be blamed for their progress.
The Disposable Male is an engaging title. However, the context, itself is not nearly a worthwhile read. Gilbert attempts to make a strong argument for why men have fallen behind academically, socially, and professionally. Instead, he blames women because they learned how to achieve the same rewards.