all images of the male engaged in an ongoing relationship with a female are at least faintly tainted by the Caspar Milquetoast image. The following is from Sheila Ruth [Issues in Feminism: A First Course in Women's Studies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1980]:

In the patriarchal barroom myth, marriage for men is a trap. A man in the excellent condition of bachelorhood, free and unencumbered, encounters a lady, wily and manipulative, who tricks him into "falling in love". He becomes so besotted with her that he loses his good sense and marries her. The door slams shut; he will find out only later that he has been entrapped and is now the captive of a "ball and chain" who, for the rest of his life, will nag him, keep tabs on him, spend his money, and bring him difficulties.
(p. 253)


(return)