Don't Call Him Personsfield

Upon perusing the new National Review, I'm intrigued to find that rarest of discoveries: a social-conservative critique of gender and feminism that I can, to a large extent, agree with. Charles Kesler's review (beginning on p. 45) of Harvey C. Mansfield's new book Manliness is refreshing in its clarity and in its refusal to retreat into reactionary sexism.

Mansfield begins from common sense or ordinary observations about the sexes. These tend to be dismissed as stereotypes (a scientific putdown), but Mansfield shows that science, in the form of social psychology and evolutionary biology, confirms the stereotypes again and again. ... But Mansfield shows that these sciences distort the sex roles by trying to measure and quantify them, splitting men and women into discrete behaviors but never reassembling these into a whole. ...

I'd add that many so-cons make the same mistake, but we'll let that go. Add this to the list of "things I want to write more about soon." Meanwhile, it's worth getting a copy of the May 8 NR, even if you're not a regular reader, for this review.