The Stronger Sex: Understanding and Resolving the Eternal Power Struggles Between Men and Women

By Richard Driscoll

Why do women tend to dominate in intimate arguments, while men concede, placate, or withdraw? Indeed, why do women tend to force relationship issues, while men usually try to avoid them? Nature compels women to confront men to test their commitment and push them to provide, while it compels men to duck confrontations and avoid offending the women who can carry their genes into the next generation. Not surprisingly, what is good for genetic survival can be bad for relationships. Our primeval differences set men and women on one collision course after another, producing the endless skirmishes in the battle of the sexes. Invariably, we're left exasperated, incapable of understanding the other sex. It doesn't have to be that way. According to this remarkable book, men and women can rise above their genetic programming to achieve a deeper understanding-and appreciation-of the opposite sex. InThe Stronger Sex, you'll recognize your own natural strengths and weaknesses-as well as those of the one you love. In addition, you'll learn which gender: Dominates personal arguments Is more highly stressed in personal confrontations Jilts the other almost twice as often Falls harder when relationships fail Is more stressed by workplace conflict when it occurs with someone of the same sex than of the opposite sex Is more intrigued by casual sex, but is also more inwardly troubled by it And more The Stronger Sexwill change forever your beliefs and understanding of the opposite sex. It will help you improve your relationships in every area of your life and enjoy them more. "Balanced and insightful. A triumph over illusion and misunderstanding." -Warren Farrell, Ph.D., author ofWhy Men Are the Way They Are "Compelling portraits, page after page. Come venture into the strange realities of sex, power, anger, confrontation, obligation, infidelities, and the real meaning of love," -Ann Cryster, author ofThe Wife-in-Law Trap "Unconventional but thoroughly fascinating. Astute, helpful, politically incorrect, and softly outrageous." -Joel Block, Ph.D., author ofSecrets of Better Sex About the Author Richard Driscoll, Ph.D.,is a psychologist who specializes in relationships, conflict management, and inner guidance. He has written three previous books and twenty professional articles. Dr. Driscoll is married to Nancy Davis Driscoll, who is also a psychologist, and they are in private practice together. They have a combined total of over forty years of professional experience working with relationships, and over fifty years of personal experience being married (to each other). They have three children.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761512802
• ISBN13: 9780761512806
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Prima Lifestyles
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.3" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Lots of good information

Although I can see the point of another reviewer concerning the word "stronger", perhaps the point to be focused on would be that women are typically portrayed in society as needing men's protection (hence implicitly weaker) and this book shows why that is driven by nature. I don't agree with all the remedies to problems that Driscoll presents, as there are alternatives such as using personal growth to move beyond the basic tool kit that nature provides us with. Nevertheless, I think every man should read this book, as well as the books by Warren Farrell. They would also do well to subscribe to the Everyman magazine, which discusses men's concerns.

Read this book.

The Stronger Sex by Richard Driscoll is going to make some people mad. Driscoll argues that it is women, not men, who dominate intimate relationships. Women might be flattered to be told they are the stronger sex, but they are less likely to accept that they hold the upper hand in relationships with men. At the heart of Driscoll's argument is the observation that women are much more comfortable with conflict than men. Driscoll says women are biologically better equipped to express anger, sustain anger comfortably, and recover their composure after an angry exchange. Men, Driscoll says, are far less at ease with the whole process of anger and conflict between the sexes. In the face of female anger, he says, men often collapse into themselves, making any mutually negotiated settlement of the conflict at hand almost impossible. Driscoll backs his argument with a host of fascinating biological and psychological evidence. Whatever a reader's initial political reaction might be to Driscoll's larger conclusions, he or she would be wise to set aside preconceived notions and consider the writer's subtle, detailed, and, I think, enormously helpful insights into the ways men and women interact in daily life. Whether or not you think women are winning the war between the sexes, this book is chock full of perceptions and advice that make the possibility of a lasting peace-for individual couples if not for society at large-much more likely.

comments from 3 authors

"Balanced and insightful... A triumph over illusion and misunderstanding." Warren Farrell, Ph.D., author of Why Men Are The Way They Are"Compelling portraits, page after page. Come venture into the strange realities of sex, power, anger, confrontation, obligation, infidelities, and the real meaning of love." Ann Crytser, author of The Wife-in-Law Trap"Unconventional but thoroughly fascinating... Astute, helpful, politically incorrect, and softly outrageous." Joel Block Ph.D., author of Secrets of Better Sex