for women only (part 2) - intro stuff

for women only:
what you need to know about the inner lives of men
Shaunti Feldhahn

I'll get to the meat of the book on Monday, but for now, I'll just cover some of her introductory stuff - so you know some background.

Feldhahn was researching a male character for a fiction book she was writing and began talking to Christian men to see if the way she had portrayed the character was realistic. She was so surprised by what she found out, that she kept talking to men about how they feel about women and themselves. This turned into a survey (backed by professional statisticians) given to hundreds of men, followed by more surveys and interviews.

I will get to her summarised findings next time, but she helpfully sets up some of her 'ground rules' in the introductory chapter, these include:

• this is not a male-bashing exercise;
• it is not an equal treatment of male/female differences, nor how your man can or should relate to you;
• recognise there are exceptions to every rule;
• the information given may be upsetting to some women because it affects our view of the men in our lives and our view of ourselves;
  

Finally, and most important, I hope that this book is not just about learning fascinating new secrets. The more we understand the men in our lives, the better we can support and love them in the way they need to be loved. In other words, this revelation is supposed to change and improve us. (p19-20)

On Monday: Chapter 2 (respect, not just love)