Warren Farrell
Warren Thomas Farrell is an American author, educator, and activist who has written about gender, particularly men's issues. Initially active in the second wave feminist movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, Farrell was a board member of the National Organization for Women in New York City and authored The Liberated Man, which explored how traditional gender roles constrained both men and women. He obtained his doctorate in political science on the topic in 1974. His role-reversal workshops in the 1970s and early 1980s brought him mainstream attention. Over time, he grew critical of feminism and shifted his focus toward highlighting the disadvantages and challenges faced by men.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Farrell established himself as a leading voice in the emerging men's movement. His books Why Men Are the Way They Are and The Myth of Male Power argued that men are systematically disadvantaged in areas such as family law, education, health, and cultural representation. Farrell contended that men, often seen as "success objects," bore hidden costs of traditional masculinity, from hazardous work to military conscription, while facing rising cultural hostility. These writings were widely reviewed and translated.
Farrell's later books and talks broadened into broader relationship advice and advocacy on men's issues. Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say and Father and Child Reunion addressed communication and parenting, with Farrell calling for greater recognition of fathers as caregivers. His subsequent books, including Why Men Earn More and Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?, continued to argue that pay disparities and gender inequalities were rooted more in life choices and systemic biases against men than in widespread discrimination against women. In The Boy Crisis, he emphasized the effects of father absence on boys' health, education, and well-being. His most recent work, Role Mate to Soul Mate, extends his focus to couples' communication and conflict resolution.
Farrell and his work have regularly been featured at fora associated with the men's rights movement, including conferences, websites, podcasts and he is often described as the intellectual father of the movement. Farrell himself denies the activist label. His work, on gender and his abandoned research on incest have sparked interest, praise, criticism and controversy. Farrell has remained a prominent public speaker and commentator, advocating for what he describes as genuine gender equality by addressing the overlooked disadvantages faced by men and boys.
Early life
Farrell was born on June 26, 1943. He is the eldest of three children born to an accountant father and a mother who struggled with her role as a housewife. His mother suffered from depression, particularly when she was not working, and died age 48 after a fall. He grew up in New Jersey, but spent time in Europe as a teenager, which taught him to challenge orthodoxies and to listen to others. Farrell graduated from Midland Park High School in New Jersey in 1961.Farrell received a B.A. from Montclair State University in social sciences in 1965. As a college student, Farrell was a national vice-president of the Student-National Education Association, leading President Lyndon B. Johnson to invite him to the White House Conference on Education.
When he was a junior, Farrell met his first wife Ursula at a convention. He encouraged her to speak up as she had stage fright, and the couple married in 1966. The same year, Farrell received an M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in political science.
Feminist years
The Farrells' marriage began with the couple following traditional gender roles. Ursula worked but did most of the domestic tasks. Farrell, in contrast, focused on developing his career as quickly as possible so he could be the main breadwinner when they had children. A mathematician and IBM executive, Ursula enjoyed working, and offered to provide for the couple while Farrell did a doctorate in political science at New York University. Farrell initially studied American government, but became interested in sex roles and the feminist movement and changed his dissertation topic. He joined the National Organization of Women in 1969. Farrell quickly came to the conclusion that women could not be liberated until men were liberated from the constraints of their own ideas about masculinity. In 1971, he became coordinator of NOW's Task Force on the Masculine Mystique, and began a network of more than 200 men's consciousness raising groups throughout the US. For three years, he served on the board of directors of the NYC chapter of National Organization for Women.Farrell obtained his doctorate in 1974: his dissertation topic was "The political potential of the women's liberation movement as indicated by its effectiveness in changing men's attitude"''. The same year, Farrell published The Liberated Man; written from a feminist perspective and based on his experiences with the consciousness raising groups, the book noted that men are also victimized by sexism. For example, he observed that men were forced into a role as breadwinner/provider and socialized to repress their emotions. In parallel to women's experience as "sex objects", Farrell labeled men's experience as "success objects", judged by their status and potential to earn money. As a tool for change, he provided guidelines and suggestions for consciousness raising groups in which men confronted their sexist relationships. He also proposed using gender-neutral language, including pronouns such as 'te' instead of she/he; this approach was critiqued by reviews in the New York Times by Larry McMurtry and John Leonard.
In 1974, Farrell left New York and his teaching at Rutgers when his wife became a White House Fellow to incoming President Gerald Ford in Washington D.C. He taught part-time at American University, Georgetown University, and Brooklyn College. The couple separated in 1976, and divorced in 1977.
During this period, Farrell was frequently featured in the media, and mingled with luminaries and media personalities, such as Gloria Steinem and Barbara Walters. He made numerous talk show appearances, including The Phil Donahue Show, and was featured in People.'' He was known for creating audience participation role-reversal experiences to "let men and women walk around in each other's moccasins".
File:Dr. Warren Farrell on the Mike Douglas Show, circa 1976.jpg|thumb|right|Farrell conducting a "men's beauty contest" on the Mike Douglas Show with Alan Alda, Billy Davis Jr., and Marilyn McCoo, in 1975
In the men's beauty contest, men were invited to experience a woman's perspective, because "for women, life...is a beauty contest in which, willing or not, every women takes part, every day of her life". The male volunteers stripped, posed in swimming suits and were cat-called and criticized. In the "role-reversal date" simulations, women judged "boys" as sex objects based on their appearance while the men viewed women as "success objects" in terms of their earning potential. In another activity, women were placed into rows based on their salaries, with the lowest earners branded as 'losers'. Farrell's advocacy of men's liberation led Carol Kleiman of the Chicago Tribune to call him 'the Gloria Steinem of the men's movement". However, Farrell became disenchanted with the feminist movement due to its stance on custody policy. NOW supported giving child custody to the primary caregiver, which was usually the mother. In a 1997 interview, Farrell stated: "Everything went well until the mid-seventies when NOW came out against the presumption of joint custody. I couldn't believe the people I thought were pioneers in equality were saying that women should have the first option to have children or not to have children — that children should not have equal rights to their dad." Farrell started to believe that feminists were more interested in power for women than in equality between the sexes.
Farrell moved to California in 1978, and taught courses in sex roles and male sexuality at the California School of Professional Psychology from 1978 to 1979, and San Diego State University from 1979 to 1980. In addition, he continued giving role-reversal workshops and other lectures in the US and Canada.