The New Male Nation

When we read about Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty as little girls, our dream was to find our Prince Charming. Unfortunately, many women are still looking for him, and like the Princess and the Frog, they found themselves with the frog. What has happened to Prince Charming? The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that one in every four women will experience domestic violence; an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year. A New Male Nation: A Philosophical Collection of Articles About Culture, Sports and the Quest for Power provides insight into what has changed our Prince Charming into Freddie Krueger. To be clear, this book is not about male bashing; it is about a culture that has somehow influenced men to behave differently towards women. These selections are sure to spark lively discussions about how men think and what has changed. Using the Essential Question as the desired pedagogy, let us begin to pose the questions, probe possibilities, agree, disagree, get angry, laugh, and be moved to respond to these selections. Jiminy Cricket sang, "When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires, will come to you." It makes us long for a time that would allow us to believe that someday our Prince Charming would arrive to sweep us off our feet and we, too, would live happily ever after.

Ingrad Smith, Ph.D., is Associate Dean of the College of Education and Human Development and Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Jackson State University. She has served as an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Mississippi State University and Director of Partners in Progress in the Division of Undergraduate Studies at Florida International University. She presently serves as Executive Director of the Association for Rural Education Policy and Practice. Dr. Smith holds a B.A. in English, a M.S. in Adult Education from Florida International University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration with an emphasis in school violence from Jackson State University. She is the author of The Female Factor: An Anthology of Issues Facing Women (University Press) and The Teaching Game: A Psychological Approach to Student Learning and Poor School Performance (Horizons).