Tag: Feminism

Topics

Books

Defending Liberalism

– "Defending Liberalism," The Alternative, April 1974.
Excerpt: LYNDON JOHNSON’S death on the day before the peace settlement in Vietnam was announced gave Richard Nixon the opportunity, while making the announcement, of vindicating… More

Review Article of George Gilder’s Men and Marriage

– "Beauty and the Beast: Review Article of George Gilder's Men and Marriage," Policy Review, Winter 1987, pp. 76-78.
Excerpt: I n this revision of his book Sexual Suicide, George Gilder continues and expands his lonely opposition to feminism. He is the one male who has the gall, or the courage, to say… More

Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism

– "Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism," interview in Harvard Review of Philosophy, Spring 1993, pp. 30-47.
Excerpt: HRP: What, in your view, is political philosophy and why should students and others care about it? Mansfield: Let me answer from the standpoint of philosophy. I would saythat… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect," a symposium, Commentary Magazine, November 1995, 85-86.
Excerpt: Lack of virtue is dimming our national prospect. This is a simpler statement than the one posed for the symposium, which lists possible causes of moral decline rather than calling… More

Virilité et Libéralisme

– “Virilité et Libéralisme,” Archives de Philosophie du Droit, Vol. 41 (1997), pp. 25-42.
Excerpt: La virilité est une qualité – pour ne pas parler de vertu – aujourd’hui fort en disgrâce. N’importe quelle femme dotée d’un zeste de féminisme – pour être bref,… More

Backlash

– "Backlash," review Women and the Common Life: Love, Marriage, and Feminism, by Christopher Lasch, Weekly Standard, 14 April 1997.
Excerpt: The late Christopher Lasch was one of those rare men who take women seriously. He did this by taking their arguments seriously, an effort which in our time begins with taking… More

Manly Virtues and Vices

– Craig Lambert, "Manly Virtues and Vices," Harvard Magazine, May 1998.
Excerpt: Don Quixote is an archetypal manly man. Supremely confident in his abilities, forthright in his dealings, passionate about righting wrongs and protecting the weak, Cervantes’… More

Why a Good Man is Hard to Find

– "Why a Good Man is Hard to Find: Feminism Liberated Men, Too," The Women’s Quarterly, no. 17 (Autumn 1998), pp. 4-6.
Excerpt: IN OUR NEW world of choice Dad seems to have gone, departed, left the scene, flown the coop. Many dads are literally gone, and they make up the statistics of male abandonment, the… More

The 30 Years’ War

– Janet Tassel, "The Thirty Years War," Harvard Magazine, September 1999.
Excerpt: Thirty years ago, on a warm April day in 1969, Harvard faced one of the most daunting challenges in its history. Under the leadership of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS),… More

Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor

– "Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor," The American Enterprise, September 2000, pp. 38-39.
Excerpt: Until recently, manliness had been beset by criticism from feminists, who declared it undemocratic because it excludes women. But something new is stirring in feminism: Naomi Wolf… More

‘Manliness,’ an Obsolete Concept? by Ken Gewertz

– Ken Gewertz, “'Manliness,' an obsolete concept? Discuss,” Harvard Gazette, April 10, 2003.
Excerpt: A few years back, an editor from Harvard Magazine called Harvey Mansfield and asked if he would contribute a short quote for a profile of a fellow faculty member. Mansfield replied… More

The Manliness of Men

– "The Manliness of Men," The American Enterprise, September 2003.
Excerpt: Today the very word “manliness” seems obsolete. There are other words, such as “courage,” “frankness,” or “confidence,” that convey… More

Is Manliness A Virtue

– "Is Manliness A Virtue," lecture, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 27 February 2004.

Love in the Ruins

– "Love in the Ruins: Men, Women, and the Way We Live Now," review of Taking Sex Differences Seriously, by Steven E. Rhoads, Weekly Standard, 2 August 2004.
Excerpt: “I DON’T PAY THEM to come over. . . . I pay them to leave.” So says a handsome actor regarding the prostitutes he patronizes. It’s a statement that reveals… More

Fear and Intimidation at Harvard

– "Fear and Intimidation at Harvard: What Do Academic Women Want?" Weekly Standard, 7 March 2005.
Excerpt: AT LAST WEEK’S HARVARD FACULTY MEETING, President Larry Summers saved his job, but he took a pummeling from his angry critics. Summers is easily the most outstanding of the… More

Oldest Conflict of All

– "Oldest Conflict of All," Harvey Mansfield and Laura Kipnis, Chicago Humanities Festival, 2006.
At the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2006, Harvey C. Mansfield sat down with feminist author Laura Kipnis to discuss Mansfield’s book Manliness, and debated modern feminism.

Manliness

– Yale University Press, 2006.  Italian trans., Virilità, Rizzoli, 2006.
Excerpt: Today the very word manliness seems quaint and obsolete. We are in the process of making the English language gender-neutral, and manliness, the quality of one gender, or rather,… More

After Words: Manliness

– "After Words with Harvey Mansfield," interview with Naomi Wolf, C-SPAN, 15 March 2006.

Colbert Report: Manliness

– Video, interview with Stephen Colbert, Colbert Report, Comedy Central, 5 April 2006.
Harvey Mansfield and Stephen collide in a perfect storm of man musk.

The Debacle at Harvard

– "The Debacle at Harvard," Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2006.
Excerpt: It is a debacle at Harvard: a great university getting rid of its most outstanding president since James B. Conant, the only outstanding president at a major university today, and… More

A New Feminism

– "A New Feminism," Imprimis, June 2006, reprinted in Society, January/February 2007.
Excerpt: Having recently written a book on manliness, I have been asked whether I have anything to say on femininity or womanliness. I do, but it takes the form of suggestions. I… More

Hook-Up or Shut Up

– "Hook-Up or Shut Up," review of Sex and the Soul, by Donna Freitas, Wall Street Journal, 29 April 2008.
Excerpt: However high-minded their courses may sound – “Mirror of Princes,” say, or “The Political Philosophy of Aristotle” – college students today enter a low… More

The Cost of Affirmative Action

– "The Cost of Affirmative Action," Harvard Crimson, 4 June 2008.
Excerpt: In the Government Department where I happily reside at Harvard, there are about 50 professors and about three conservatives. In a politics department, mind you. This is the result… More

Was Feminism Necessary?

– "Was Feminism Necessary?" Forbes Magazine, 15 September 2008.
Excerpt: Was feminism necessary to produce Sarah Palin’s fine performance at the Republican Convention? She is of course no heroine to radical feminists, who disliked everything she… More

High Five

– "High Five," Forbes Magazine, 17 February 2009.
Excerpt: By his own admission, Harvey Mansfield has barely left Harvard‘s campus since 1949. A teacher of political philosophy since 1962, Mansfield is also a distinguished research… More

Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory

– "Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory," review of Men: Evolutionary and Life History, by Richard Bribiescas, Forbes Magazine, 26 Februaruy 2009.
Excerpt: Imagine Larry Summers making that statement when he was president of Harvard, instead of the much milder query he raised about the capacity of women in science that was surely one… More

Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?

– "Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?" In Character, Winter 2009.
Excerpt: Courage is not solely for men, but it is mainly for men. The Greek word for courage is andreia, which comes from he-man and also means manliness. The Greek philosopher Aristotle… More

Too Much Justice?

– "Too Much Justice?," interview in The Utopian, 30 March 2010.
Excerpt: Does justice consist in just institutions? Nowadays, we tend to think of it that way. For us, justice consists,  for example, in the separation of powers or an independent… More

Manliness and Morality

– "Manliness and Morality: The Transgressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn," Weekly Standard, 6 June 2011.
Excerpt: What with Arnold and DSK, male transgression is once again in the news. Let’s not equate the two cases—one is forgivable, the other, if the accusations are true, is not.… More

BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok

– “BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok,” Weekly Standard, 18 June 2012.
Excerpt: Actually BS here stands for “benevolent sexism.” An article by two New Zealand psychologists has come my way that deserves to become a classic of social science. The title… More

Harvard Faculty Speeches, 1975-2006

View pdf version The speeches reported here were given by Harvey C. Mansfield over 31 years to meetings of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They have been edited by him in 2012.… More

Feminism and Its Discontents

– “Feminism and Its Discontents,” Weekly Standard, June 23, 2014.
Excerpt: Feminism is in control of America’s colleges and universities, where its principles at least are held as dogmas unquestioned and unopposed. Yet in what should be a paradise with… More

Conversations with Bill Kristol: Harvey Mansfield II

– Harvey Mansfield (Interview number 2) Conversations with Bill Kristol, September 1, 2014.
In the second of an ongoing series of interviews with the Harvard professor on Conversations with Bill Kristol, Mansfield and Kristol discuss the wisdom of the Federalist, the challenges… More

The Contradiction that Rules Feminism

– "The Contradiction that Rules Feminism," Hoover Institution "Defining Ideas" December 18, 2014.
In this article for the Hoover Institution, Mansfield discusses current OCR regulations and the relation to the modern ideology of feminism. Excerpt: Feminism in the universities is nothing… More

The Theory Behind My Disinvitation

– "The Theory Behind My Disinvitation," The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2019.
Harvey Mansfield reflects on his recent disinvitation from Concordia University and what it reveals about intolerance in the university today. —– Recently I was disinvited from… More

Essays

Defending Liberalism

– "Defending Liberalism," The Alternative, April 1974.
Excerpt: LYNDON JOHNSON’S death on the day before the peace settlement in Vietnam was announced gave Richard Nixon the opportunity, while making the announcement, of vindicating… More

Review Article of George Gilder’s Men and Marriage

– "Beauty and the Beast: Review Article of George Gilder's Men and Marriage," Policy Review, Winter 1987, pp. 76-78.
Excerpt: I n this revision of his book Sexual Suicide, George Gilder continues and expands his lonely opposition to feminism. He is the one male who has the gall, or the courage, to say… More

Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism

– "Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism," interview in Harvard Review of Philosophy, Spring 1993, pp. 30-47.
Excerpt: HRP: What, in your view, is political philosophy and why should students and others care about it? Mansfield: Let me answer from the standpoint of philosophy. I would saythat… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect," a symposium, Commentary Magazine, November 1995, 85-86.
Excerpt: Lack of virtue is dimming our national prospect. This is a simpler statement than the one posed for the symposium, which lists possible causes of moral decline rather than calling… More

Virilité et Libéralisme

– “Virilité et Libéralisme,” Archives de Philosophie du Droit, Vol. 41 (1997), pp. 25-42.
Excerpt: La virilité est une qualité – pour ne pas parler de vertu – aujourd’hui fort en disgrâce. N’importe quelle femme dotée d’un zeste de féminisme – pour être bref,… More

Backlash

– "Backlash," review Women and the Common Life: Love, Marriage, and Feminism, by Christopher Lasch, Weekly Standard, 14 April 1997.
Excerpt: The late Christopher Lasch was one of those rare men who take women seriously. He did this by taking their arguments seriously, an effort which in our time begins with taking… More

Manly Virtues and Vices

– Craig Lambert, "Manly Virtues and Vices," Harvard Magazine, May 1998.
Excerpt: Don Quixote is an archetypal manly man. Supremely confident in his abilities, forthright in his dealings, passionate about righting wrongs and protecting the weak, Cervantes’… More

Why a Good Man is Hard to Find

– "Why a Good Man is Hard to Find: Feminism Liberated Men, Too," The Women’s Quarterly, no. 17 (Autumn 1998), pp. 4-6.
Excerpt: IN OUR NEW world of choice Dad seems to have gone, departed, left the scene, flown the coop. Many dads are literally gone, and they make up the statistics of male abandonment, the… More

The 30 Years’ War

– Janet Tassel, "The Thirty Years War," Harvard Magazine, September 1999.
Excerpt: Thirty years ago, on a warm April day in 1969, Harvard faced one of the most daunting challenges in its history. Under the leadership of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS),… More

Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor

– "Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor," The American Enterprise, September 2000, pp. 38-39.
Excerpt: Until recently, manliness had been beset by criticism from feminists, who declared it undemocratic because it excludes women. But something new is stirring in feminism: Naomi Wolf… More

‘Manliness,’ an Obsolete Concept? by Ken Gewertz

– Ken Gewertz, “'Manliness,' an obsolete concept? Discuss,” Harvard Gazette, April 10, 2003.
Excerpt: A few years back, an editor from Harvard Magazine called Harvey Mansfield and asked if he would contribute a short quote for a profile of a fellow faculty member. Mansfield replied… More

The Manliness of Men

– "The Manliness of Men," The American Enterprise, September 2003.
Excerpt: Today the very word “manliness” seems obsolete. There are other words, such as “courage,” “frankness,” or “confidence,” that convey… More

Is Manliness A Virtue

– "Is Manliness A Virtue," lecture, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 27 February 2004.

Love in the Ruins

– "Love in the Ruins: Men, Women, and the Way We Live Now," review of Taking Sex Differences Seriously, by Steven E. Rhoads, Weekly Standard, 2 August 2004.
Excerpt: “I DON’T PAY THEM to come over. . . . I pay them to leave.” So says a handsome actor regarding the prostitutes he patronizes. It’s a statement that reveals… More

Fear and Intimidation at Harvard

– "Fear and Intimidation at Harvard: What Do Academic Women Want?" Weekly Standard, 7 March 2005.
Excerpt: AT LAST WEEK’S HARVARD FACULTY MEETING, President Larry Summers saved his job, but he took a pummeling from his angry critics. Summers is easily the most outstanding of the… More

Oldest Conflict of All

– "Oldest Conflict of All," Harvey Mansfield and Laura Kipnis, Chicago Humanities Festival, 2006.
At the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2006, Harvey C. Mansfield sat down with feminist author Laura Kipnis to discuss Mansfield’s book Manliness, and debated modern feminism.

Manliness

– Yale University Press, 2006.  Italian trans., Virilità, Rizzoli, 2006.
Excerpt: Today the very word manliness seems quaint and obsolete. We are in the process of making the English language gender-neutral, and manliness, the quality of one gender, or rather,… More

After Words: Manliness

– "After Words with Harvey Mansfield," interview with Naomi Wolf, C-SPAN, 15 March 2006.

Colbert Report: Manliness

– Video, interview with Stephen Colbert, Colbert Report, Comedy Central, 5 April 2006.
Harvey Mansfield and Stephen collide in a perfect storm of man musk.

The Debacle at Harvard

– "The Debacle at Harvard," Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2006.
Excerpt: It is a debacle at Harvard: a great university getting rid of its most outstanding president since James B. Conant, the only outstanding president at a major university today, and… More

A New Feminism

– "A New Feminism," Imprimis, June 2006, reprinted in Society, January/February 2007.
Excerpt: Having recently written a book on manliness, I have been asked whether I have anything to say on femininity or womanliness. I do, but it takes the form of suggestions. I… More

Hook-Up or Shut Up

– "Hook-Up or Shut Up," review of Sex and the Soul, by Donna Freitas, Wall Street Journal, 29 April 2008.
Excerpt: However high-minded their courses may sound – “Mirror of Princes,” say, or “The Political Philosophy of Aristotle” – college students today enter a low… More

The Cost of Affirmative Action

– "The Cost of Affirmative Action," Harvard Crimson, 4 June 2008.
Excerpt: In the Government Department where I happily reside at Harvard, there are about 50 professors and about three conservatives. In a politics department, mind you. This is the result… More

Was Feminism Necessary?

– "Was Feminism Necessary?" Forbes Magazine, 15 September 2008.
Excerpt: Was feminism necessary to produce Sarah Palin’s fine performance at the Republican Convention? She is of course no heroine to radical feminists, who disliked everything she… More

High Five

– "High Five," Forbes Magazine, 17 February 2009.
Excerpt: By his own admission, Harvey Mansfield has barely left Harvard‘s campus since 1949. A teacher of political philosophy since 1962, Mansfield is also a distinguished research… More

Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory

– "Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory," review of Men: Evolutionary and Life History, by Richard Bribiescas, Forbes Magazine, 26 Februaruy 2009.
Excerpt: Imagine Larry Summers making that statement when he was president of Harvard, instead of the much milder query he raised about the capacity of women in science that was surely one… More

Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?

– "Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?" In Character, Winter 2009.
Excerpt: Courage is not solely for men, but it is mainly for men. The Greek word for courage is andreia, which comes from he-man and also means manliness. The Greek philosopher Aristotle… More

Too Much Justice?

– "Too Much Justice?," interview in The Utopian, 30 March 2010.
Excerpt: Does justice consist in just institutions? Nowadays, we tend to think of it that way. For us, justice consists,  for example, in the separation of powers or an independent… More

Manliness and Morality

– "Manliness and Morality: The Transgressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn," Weekly Standard, 6 June 2011.
Excerpt: What with Arnold and DSK, male transgression is once again in the news. Let’s not equate the two cases—one is forgivable, the other, if the accusations are true, is not.… More

BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok

– “BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok,” Weekly Standard, 18 June 2012.
Excerpt: Actually BS here stands for “benevolent sexism.” An article by two New Zealand psychologists has come my way that deserves to become a classic of social science. The title… More

Harvard Faculty Speeches, 1975-2006

View pdf version The speeches reported here were given by Harvey C. Mansfield over 31 years to meetings of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They have been edited by him in 2012.… More

Feminism and Its Discontents

– “Feminism and Its Discontents,” Weekly Standard, June 23, 2014.
Excerpt: Feminism is in control of America’s colleges and universities, where its principles at least are held as dogmas unquestioned and unopposed. Yet in what should be a paradise with… More

Conversations with Bill Kristol: Harvey Mansfield II

– Harvey Mansfield (Interview number 2) Conversations with Bill Kristol, September 1, 2014.
In the second of an ongoing series of interviews with the Harvard professor on Conversations with Bill Kristol, Mansfield and Kristol discuss the wisdom of the Federalist, the challenges… More

The Contradiction that Rules Feminism

– "The Contradiction that Rules Feminism," Hoover Institution "Defining Ideas" December 18, 2014.
In this article for the Hoover Institution, Mansfield discusses current OCR regulations and the relation to the modern ideology of feminism. Excerpt: Feminism in the universities is nothing… More

The Theory Behind My Disinvitation

– "The Theory Behind My Disinvitation," The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2019.
Harvey Mansfield reflects on his recent disinvitation from Concordia University and what it reveals about intolerance in the university today. —– Recently I was disinvited from… More

Commentary

Defending Liberalism

– "Defending Liberalism," The Alternative, April 1974.
Excerpt: LYNDON JOHNSON’S death on the day before the peace settlement in Vietnam was announced gave Richard Nixon the opportunity, while making the announcement, of vindicating… More

Review Article of George Gilder’s Men and Marriage

– "Beauty and the Beast: Review Article of George Gilder's Men and Marriage," Policy Review, Winter 1987, pp. 76-78.
Excerpt: I n this revision of his book Sexual Suicide, George Gilder continues and expands his lonely opposition to feminism. He is the one male who has the gall, or the courage, to say… More

Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism

– "Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism," interview in Harvard Review of Philosophy, Spring 1993, pp. 30-47.
Excerpt: HRP: What, in your view, is political philosophy and why should students and others care about it? Mansfield: Let me answer from the standpoint of philosophy. I would saythat… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect," a symposium, Commentary Magazine, November 1995, 85-86.
Excerpt: Lack of virtue is dimming our national prospect. This is a simpler statement than the one posed for the symposium, which lists possible causes of moral decline rather than calling… More

Virilité et Libéralisme

– “Virilité et Libéralisme,” Archives de Philosophie du Droit, Vol. 41 (1997), pp. 25-42.
Excerpt: La virilité est une qualité – pour ne pas parler de vertu – aujourd’hui fort en disgrâce. N’importe quelle femme dotée d’un zeste de féminisme – pour être bref,… More

Backlash

– "Backlash," review Women and the Common Life: Love, Marriage, and Feminism, by Christopher Lasch, Weekly Standard, 14 April 1997.
Excerpt: The late Christopher Lasch was one of those rare men who take women seriously. He did this by taking their arguments seriously, an effort which in our time begins with taking… More

Manly Virtues and Vices

– Craig Lambert, "Manly Virtues and Vices," Harvard Magazine, May 1998.
Excerpt: Don Quixote is an archetypal manly man. Supremely confident in his abilities, forthright in his dealings, passionate about righting wrongs and protecting the weak, Cervantes’… More

Why a Good Man is Hard to Find

– "Why a Good Man is Hard to Find: Feminism Liberated Men, Too," The Women’s Quarterly, no. 17 (Autumn 1998), pp. 4-6.
Excerpt: IN OUR NEW world of choice Dad seems to have gone, departed, left the scene, flown the coop. Many dads are literally gone, and they make up the statistics of male abandonment, the… More

The 30 Years’ War

– Janet Tassel, "The Thirty Years War," Harvard Magazine, September 1999.
Excerpt: Thirty years ago, on a warm April day in 1969, Harvard faced one of the most daunting challenges in its history. Under the leadership of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS),… More

Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor

– "Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor," The American Enterprise, September 2000, pp. 38-39.
Excerpt: Until recently, manliness had been beset by criticism from feminists, who declared it undemocratic because it excludes women. But something new is stirring in feminism: Naomi Wolf… More

‘Manliness,’ an Obsolete Concept? by Ken Gewertz

– Ken Gewertz, “'Manliness,' an obsolete concept? Discuss,” Harvard Gazette, April 10, 2003.
Excerpt: A few years back, an editor from Harvard Magazine called Harvey Mansfield and asked if he would contribute a short quote for a profile of a fellow faculty member. Mansfield replied… More

The Manliness of Men

– "The Manliness of Men," The American Enterprise, September 2003.
Excerpt: Today the very word “manliness” seems obsolete. There are other words, such as “courage,” “frankness,” or “confidence,” that convey… More

Is Manliness A Virtue

– "Is Manliness A Virtue," lecture, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 27 February 2004.

Love in the Ruins

– "Love in the Ruins: Men, Women, and the Way We Live Now," review of Taking Sex Differences Seriously, by Steven E. Rhoads, Weekly Standard, 2 August 2004.
Excerpt: “I DON’T PAY THEM to come over. . . . I pay them to leave.” So says a handsome actor regarding the prostitutes he patronizes. It’s a statement that reveals… More

Fear and Intimidation at Harvard

– "Fear and Intimidation at Harvard: What Do Academic Women Want?" Weekly Standard, 7 March 2005.
Excerpt: AT LAST WEEK’S HARVARD FACULTY MEETING, President Larry Summers saved his job, but he took a pummeling from his angry critics. Summers is easily the most outstanding of the… More

Oldest Conflict of All

– "Oldest Conflict of All," Harvey Mansfield and Laura Kipnis, Chicago Humanities Festival, 2006.
At the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2006, Harvey C. Mansfield sat down with feminist author Laura Kipnis to discuss Mansfield’s book Manliness, and debated modern feminism.

Manliness

– Yale University Press, 2006.  Italian trans., Virilità, Rizzoli, 2006.
Excerpt: Today the very word manliness seems quaint and obsolete. We are in the process of making the English language gender-neutral, and manliness, the quality of one gender, or rather,… More

After Words: Manliness

– "After Words with Harvey Mansfield," interview with Naomi Wolf, C-SPAN, 15 March 2006.

Colbert Report: Manliness

– Video, interview with Stephen Colbert, Colbert Report, Comedy Central, 5 April 2006.
Harvey Mansfield and Stephen collide in a perfect storm of man musk.

The Debacle at Harvard

– "The Debacle at Harvard," Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2006.
Excerpt: It is a debacle at Harvard: a great university getting rid of its most outstanding president since James B. Conant, the only outstanding president at a major university today, and… More

A New Feminism

– "A New Feminism," Imprimis, June 2006, reprinted in Society, January/February 2007.
Excerpt: Having recently written a book on manliness, I have been asked whether I have anything to say on femininity or womanliness. I do, but it takes the form of suggestions. I… More

Hook-Up or Shut Up

– "Hook-Up or Shut Up," review of Sex and the Soul, by Donna Freitas, Wall Street Journal, 29 April 2008.
Excerpt: However high-minded their courses may sound – “Mirror of Princes,” say, or “The Political Philosophy of Aristotle” – college students today enter a low… More

The Cost of Affirmative Action

– "The Cost of Affirmative Action," Harvard Crimson, 4 June 2008.
Excerpt: In the Government Department where I happily reside at Harvard, there are about 50 professors and about three conservatives. In a politics department, mind you. This is the result… More

Was Feminism Necessary?

– "Was Feminism Necessary?" Forbes Magazine, 15 September 2008.
Excerpt: Was feminism necessary to produce Sarah Palin’s fine performance at the Republican Convention? She is of course no heroine to radical feminists, who disliked everything she… More

High Five

– "High Five," Forbes Magazine, 17 February 2009.
Excerpt: By his own admission, Harvey Mansfield has barely left Harvard‘s campus since 1949. A teacher of political philosophy since 1962, Mansfield is also a distinguished research… More

Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory

– "Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory," review of Men: Evolutionary and Life History, by Richard Bribiescas, Forbes Magazine, 26 Februaruy 2009.
Excerpt: Imagine Larry Summers making that statement when he was president of Harvard, instead of the much milder query he raised about the capacity of women in science that was surely one… More

Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?

– "Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?" In Character, Winter 2009.
Excerpt: Courage is not solely for men, but it is mainly for men. The Greek word for courage is andreia, which comes from he-man and also means manliness. The Greek philosopher Aristotle… More

Too Much Justice?

– "Too Much Justice?," interview in The Utopian, 30 March 2010.
Excerpt: Does justice consist in just institutions? Nowadays, we tend to think of it that way. For us, justice consists,  for example, in the separation of powers or an independent… More

Manliness and Morality

– "Manliness and Morality: The Transgressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn," Weekly Standard, 6 June 2011.
Excerpt: What with Arnold and DSK, male transgression is once again in the news. Let’s not equate the two cases—one is forgivable, the other, if the accusations are true, is not.… More

BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok

– “BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok,” Weekly Standard, 18 June 2012.
Excerpt: Actually BS here stands for “benevolent sexism.” An article by two New Zealand psychologists has come my way that deserves to become a classic of social science. The title… More

Harvard Faculty Speeches, 1975-2006

View pdf version The speeches reported here were given by Harvey C. Mansfield over 31 years to meetings of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They have been edited by him in 2012.… More

Feminism and Its Discontents

– “Feminism and Its Discontents,” Weekly Standard, June 23, 2014.
Excerpt: Feminism is in control of America’s colleges and universities, where its principles at least are held as dogmas unquestioned and unopposed. Yet in what should be a paradise with… More

Conversations with Bill Kristol: Harvey Mansfield II

– Harvey Mansfield (Interview number 2) Conversations with Bill Kristol, September 1, 2014.
In the second of an ongoing series of interviews with the Harvard professor on Conversations with Bill Kristol, Mansfield and Kristol discuss the wisdom of the Federalist, the challenges… More

The Contradiction that Rules Feminism

– "The Contradiction that Rules Feminism," Hoover Institution "Defining Ideas" December 18, 2014.
In this article for the Hoover Institution, Mansfield discusses current OCR regulations and the relation to the modern ideology of feminism. Excerpt: Feminism in the universities is nothing… More

The Theory Behind My Disinvitation

– "The Theory Behind My Disinvitation," The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2019.
Harvey Mansfield reflects on his recent disinvitation from Concordia University and what it reveals about intolerance in the university today. —– Recently I was disinvited from… More

Multimedia

Defending Liberalism

– "Defending Liberalism," The Alternative, April 1974.
Excerpt: LYNDON JOHNSON’S death on the day before the peace settlement in Vietnam was announced gave Richard Nixon the opportunity, while making the announcement, of vindicating… More

Review Article of George Gilder’s Men and Marriage

– "Beauty and the Beast: Review Article of George Gilder's Men and Marriage," Policy Review, Winter 1987, pp. 76-78.
Excerpt: I n this revision of his book Sexual Suicide, George Gilder continues and expands his lonely opposition to feminism. He is the one male who has the gall, or the courage, to say… More

Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism

– "Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism," interview in Harvard Review of Philosophy, Spring 1993, pp. 30-47.
Excerpt: HRP: What, in your view, is political philosophy and why should students and others care about it? Mansfield: Let me answer from the standpoint of philosophy. I would saythat… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect," a symposium, Commentary Magazine, November 1995, 85-86.
Excerpt: Lack of virtue is dimming our national prospect. This is a simpler statement than the one posed for the symposium, which lists possible causes of moral decline rather than calling… More

Virilité et Libéralisme

– “Virilité et Libéralisme,” Archives de Philosophie du Droit, Vol. 41 (1997), pp. 25-42.
Excerpt: La virilité est une qualité – pour ne pas parler de vertu – aujourd’hui fort en disgrâce. N’importe quelle femme dotée d’un zeste de féminisme – pour être bref,… More

Backlash

– "Backlash," review Women and the Common Life: Love, Marriage, and Feminism, by Christopher Lasch, Weekly Standard, 14 April 1997.
Excerpt: The late Christopher Lasch was one of those rare men who take women seriously. He did this by taking their arguments seriously, an effort which in our time begins with taking… More

Manly Virtues and Vices

– Craig Lambert, "Manly Virtues and Vices," Harvard Magazine, May 1998.
Excerpt: Don Quixote is an archetypal manly man. Supremely confident in his abilities, forthright in his dealings, passionate about righting wrongs and protecting the weak, Cervantes’… More

Why a Good Man is Hard to Find

– "Why a Good Man is Hard to Find: Feminism Liberated Men, Too," The Women’s Quarterly, no. 17 (Autumn 1998), pp. 4-6.
Excerpt: IN OUR NEW world of choice Dad seems to have gone, departed, left the scene, flown the coop. Many dads are literally gone, and they make up the statistics of male abandonment, the… More

The 30 Years’ War

– Janet Tassel, "The Thirty Years War," Harvard Magazine, September 1999.
Excerpt: Thirty years ago, on a warm April day in 1969, Harvard faced one of the most daunting challenges in its history. Under the leadership of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS),… More

Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor

– "Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor," The American Enterprise, September 2000, pp. 38-39.
Excerpt: Until recently, manliness had been beset by criticism from feminists, who declared it undemocratic because it excludes women. But something new is stirring in feminism: Naomi Wolf… More

‘Manliness,’ an Obsolete Concept? by Ken Gewertz

– Ken Gewertz, “'Manliness,' an obsolete concept? Discuss,” Harvard Gazette, April 10, 2003.
Excerpt: A few years back, an editor from Harvard Magazine called Harvey Mansfield and asked if he would contribute a short quote for a profile of a fellow faculty member. Mansfield replied… More

The Manliness of Men

– "The Manliness of Men," The American Enterprise, September 2003.
Excerpt: Today the very word “manliness” seems obsolete. There are other words, such as “courage,” “frankness,” or “confidence,” that convey… More

Is Manliness A Virtue

– "Is Manliness A Virtue," lecture, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 27 February 2004.

Love in the Ruins

– "Love in the Ruins: Men, Women, and the Way We Live Now," review of Taking Sex Differences Seriously, by Steven E. Rhoads, Weekly Standard, 2 August 2004.
Excerpt: “I DON’T PAY THEM to come over. . . . I pay them to leave.” So says a handsome actor regarding the prostitutes he patronizes. It’s a statement that reveals… More

Fear and Intimidation at Harvard

– "Fear and Intimidation at Harvard: What Do Academic Women Want?" Weekly Standard, 7 March 2005.
Excerpt: AT LAST WEEK’S HARVARD FACULTY MEETING, President Larry Summers saved his job, but he took a pummeling from his angry critics. Summers is easily the most outstanding of the… More

Oldest Conflict of All

– "Oldest Conflict of All," Harvey Mansfield and Laura Kipnis, Chicago Humanities Festival, 2006.
At the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2006, Harvey C. Mansfield sat down with feminist author Laura Kipnis to discuss Mansfield’s book Manliness, and debated modern feminism.

Manliness

– Yale University Press, 2006.  Italian trans., Virilità, Rizzoli, 2006.
Excerpt: Today the very word manliness seems quaint and obsolete. We are in the process of making the English language gender-neutral, and manliness, the quality of one gender, or rather,… More

After Words: Manliness

– "After Words with Harvey Mansfield," interview with Naomi Wolf, C-SPAN, 15 March 2006.

Colbert Report: Manliness

– Video, interview with Stephen Colbert, Colbert Report, Comedy Central, 5 April 2006.
Harvey Mansfield and Stephen collide in a perfect storm of man musk.

The Debacle at Harvard

– "The Debacle at Harvard," Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2006.
Excerpt: It is a debacle at Harvard: a great university getting rid of its most outstanding president since James B. Conant, the only outstanding president at a major university today, and… More

A New Feminism

– "A New Feminism," Imprimis, June 2006, reprinted in Society, January/February 2007.
Excerpt: Having recently written a book on manliness, I have been asked whether I have anything to say on femininity or womanliness. I do, but it takes the form of suggestions. I… More

Hook-Up or Shut Up

– "Hook-Up or Shut Up," review of Sex and the Soul, by Donna Freitas, Wall Street Journal, 29 April 2008.
Excerpt: However high-minded their courses may sound – “Mirror of Princes,” say, or “The Political Philosophy of Aristotle” – college students today enter a low… More

The Cost of Affirmative Action

– "The Cost of Affirmative Action," Harvard Crimson, 4 June 2008.
Excerpt: In the Government Department where I happily reside at Harvard, there are about 50 professors and about three conservatives. In a politics department, mind you. This is the result… More

Was Feminism Necessary?

– "Was Feminism Necessary?" Forbes Magazine, 15 September 2008.
Excerpt: Was feminism necessary to produce Sarah Palin’s fine performance at the Republican Convention? She is of course no heroine to radical feminists, who disliked everything she… More

High Five

– "High Five," Forbes Magazine, 17 February 2009.
Excerpt: By his own admission, Harvey Mansfield has barely left Harvard‘s campus since 1949. A teacher of political philosophy since 1962, Mansfield is also a distinguished research… More

Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory

– "Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory," review of Men: Evolutionary and Life History, by Richard Bribiescas, Forbes Magazine, 26 Februaruy 2009.
Excerpt: Imagine Larry Summers making that statement when he was president of Harvard, instead of the much milder query he raised about the capacity of women in science that was surely one… More

Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?

– "Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?" In Character, Winter 2009.
Excerpt: Courage is not solely for men, but it is mainly for men. The Greek word for courage is andreia, which comes from he-man and also means manliness. The Greek philosopher Aristotle… More

Too Much Justice?

– "Too Much Justice?," interview in The Utopian, 30 March 2010.
Excerpt: Does justice consist in just institutions? Nowadays, we tend to think of it that way. For us, justice consists,  for example, in the separation of powers or an independent… More

Manliness and Morality

– "Manliness and Morality: The Transgressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn," Weekly Standard, 6 June 2011.
Excerpt: What with Arnold and DSK, male transgression is once again in the news. Let’s not equate the two cases—one is forgivable, the other, if the accusations are true, is not.… More

BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok

– “BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok,” Weekly Standard, 18 June 2012.
Excerpt: Actually BS here stands for “benevolent sexism.” An article by two New Zealand psychologists has come my way that deserves to become a classic of social science. The title… More

Harvard Faculty Speeches, 1975-2006

View pdf version The speeches reported here were given by Harvey C. Mansfield over 31 years to meetings of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They have been edited by him in 2012.… More

Feminism and Its Discontents

– “Feminism and Its Discontents,” Weekly Standard, June 23, 2014.
Excerpt: Feminism is in control of America’s colleges and universities, where its principles at least are held as dogmas unquestioned and unopposed. Yet in what should be a paradise with… More

Conversations with Bill Kristol: Harvey Mansfield II

– Harvey Mansfield (Interview number 2) Conversations with Bill Kristol, September 1, 2014.
In the second of an ongoing series of interviews with the Harvard professor on Conversations with Bill Kristol, Mansfield and Kristol discuss the wisdom of the Federalist, the challenges… More

The Contradiction that Rules Feminism

– "The Contradiction that Rules Feminism," Hoover Institution "Defining Ideas" December 18, 2014.
In this article for the Hoover Institution, Mansfield discusses current OCR regulations and the relation to the modern ideology of feminism. Excerpt: Feminism in the universities is nothing… More

The Theory Behind My Disinvitation

– "The Theory Behind My Disinvitation," The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2019.
Harvey Mansfield reflects on his recent disinvitation from Concordia University and what it reveals about intolerance in the university today. —– Recently I was disinvited from… More

Teaching

Defending Liberalism

– "Defending Liberalism," The Alternative, April 1974.
Excerpt: LYNDON JOHNSON’S death on the day before the peace settlement in Vietnam was announced gave Richard Nixon the opportunity, while making the announcement, of vindicating… More

Review Article of George Gilder’s Men and Marriage

– "Beauty and the Beast: Review Article of George Gilder's Men and Marriage," Policy Review, Winter 1987, pp. 76-78.
Excerpt: I n this revision of his book Sexual Suicide, George Gilder continues and expands his lonely opposition to feminism. He is the one male who has the gall, or the courage, to say… More

Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism

– "Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., The Question of Conservatism," interview in Harvard Review of Philosophy, Spring 1993, pp. 30-47.
Excerpt: HRP: What, in your view, is political philosophy and why should students and others care about it? Mansfield: Let me answer from the standpoint of philosophy. I would saythat… More

The National Prospect

– "The National Prospect," a symposium, Commentary Magazine, November 1995, 85-86.
Excerpt: Lack of virtue is dimming our national prospect. This is a simpler statement than the one posed for the symposium, which lists possible causes of moral decline rather than calling… More

Virilité et Libéralisme

– “Virilité et Libéralisme,” Archives de Philosophie du Droit, Vol. 41 (1997), pp. 25-42.
Excerpt: La virilité est une qualité – pour ne pas parler de vertu – aujourd’hui fort en disgrâce. N’importe quelle femme dotée d’un zeste de féminisme – pour être bref,… More

Backlash

– "Backlash," review Women and the Common Life: Love, Marriage, and Feminism, by Christopher Lasch, Weekly Standard, 14 April 1997.
Excerpt: The late Christopher Lasch was one of those rare men who take women seriously. He did this by taking their arguments seriously, an effort which in our time begins with taking… More

Manly Virtues and Vices

– Craig Lambert, "Manly Virtues and Vices," Harvard Magazine, May 1998.
Excerpt: Don Quixote is an archetypal manly man. Supremely confident in his abilities, forthright in his dealings, passionate about righting wrongs and protecting the weak, Cervantes’… More

Why a Good Man is Hard to Find

– "Why a Good Man is Hard to Find: Feminism Liberated Men, Too," The Women’s Quarterly, no. 17 (Autumn 1998), pp. 4-6.
Excerpt: IN OUR NEW world of choice Dad seems to have gone, departed, left the scene, flown the coop. Many dads are literally gone, and they make up the statistics of male abandonment, the… More

The 30 Years’ War

– Janet Tassel, "The Thirty Years War," Harvard Magazine, September 1999.
Excerpt: Thirty years ago, on a warm April day in 1969, Harvard faced one of the most daunting challenges in its history. Under the leadership of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS),… More

Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor

– "Be a Man, Take Risks, Win Money and Honor," The American Enterprise, September 2000, pp. 38-39.
Excerpt: Until recently, manliness had been beset by criticism from feminists, who declared it undemocratic because it excludes women. But something new is stirring in feminism: Naomi Wolf… More

‘Manliness,’ an Obsolete Concept? by Ken Gewertz

– Ken Gewertz, “'Manliness,' an obsolete concept? Discuss,” Harvard Gazette, April 10, 2003.
Excerpt: A few years back, an editor from Harvard Magazine called Harvey Mansfield and asked if he would contribute a short quote for a profile of a fellow faculty member. Mansfield replied… More

The Manliness of Men

– "The Manliness of Men," The American Enterprise, September 2003.
Excerpt: Today the very word “manliness” seems obsolete. There are other words, such as “courage,” “frankness,” or “confidence,” that convey… More

Is Manliness A Virtue

– "Is Manliness A Virtue," lecture, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 27 February 2004.

Love in the Ruins

– "Love in the Ruins: Men, Women, and the Way We Live Now," review of Taking Sex Differences Seriously, by Steven E. Rhoads, Weekly Standard, 2 August 2004.
Excerpt: “I DON’T PAY THEM to come over. . . . I pay them to leave.” So says a handsome actor regarding the prostitutes he patronizes. It’s a statement that reveals… More

Fear and Intimidation at Harvard

– "Fear and Intimidation at Harvard: What Do Academic Women Want?" Weekly Standard, 7 March 2005.
Excerpt: AT LAST WEEK’S HARVARD FACULTY MEETING, President Larry Summers saved his job, but he took a pummeling from his angry critics. Summers is easily the most outstanding of the… More

Oldest Conflict of All

– "Oldest Conflict of All," Harvey Mansfield and Laura Kipnis, Chicago Humanities Festival, 2006.
At the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2006, Harvey C. Mansfield sat down with feminist author Laura Kipnis to discuss Mansfield’s book Manliness, and debated modern feminism.

Manliness

– Yale University Press, 2006.  Italian trans., Virilità, Rizzoli, 2006.
Excerpt: Today the very word manliness seems quaint and obsolete. We are in the process of making the English language gender-neutral, and manliness, the quality of one gender, or rather,… More

After Words: Manliness

– "After Words with Harvey Mansfield," interview with Naomi Wolf, C-SPAN, 15 March 2006.

Colbert Report: Manliness

– Video, interview with Stephen Colbert, Colbert Report, Comedy Central, 5 April 2006.
Harvey Mansfield and Stephen collide in a perfect storm of man musk.

The Debacle at Harvard

– "The Debacle at Harvard," Claremont Review of Books, Spring 2006.
Excerpt: It is a debacle at Harvard: a great university getting rid of its most outstanding president since James B. Conant, the only outstanding president at a major university today, and… More

A New Feminism

– "A New Feminism," Imprimis, June 2006, reprinted in Society, January/February 2007.
Excerpt: Having recently written a book on manliness, I have been asked whether I have anything to say on femininity or womanliness. I do, but it takes the form of suggestions. I… More

Hook-Up or Shut Up

– "Hook-Up or Shut Up," review of Sex and the Soul, by Donna Freitas, Wall Street Journal, 29 April 2008.
Excerpt: However high-minded their courses may sound – “Mirror of Princes,” say, or “The Political Philosophy of Aristotle” – college students today enter a low… More

The Cost of Affirmative Action

– "The Cost of Affirmative Action," Harvard Crimson, 4 June 2008.
Excerpt: In the Government Department where I happily reside at Harvard, there are about 50 professors and about three conservatives. In a politics department, mind you. This is the result… More

Was Feminism Necessary?

– "Was Feminism Necessary?" Forbes Magazine, 15 September 2008.
Excerpt: Was feminism necessary to produce Sarah Palin’s fine performance at the Republican Convention? She is of course no heroine to radical feminists, who disliked everything she… More

High Five

– "High Five," Forbes Magazine, 17 February 2009.
Excerpt: By his own admission, Harvey Mansfield has barely left Harvard‘s campus since 1949. A teacher of political philosophy since 1962, Mansfield is also a distinguished research… More

Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory

– "Men, Science, and Evolutionary Theory," review of Men: Evolutionary and Life History, by Richard Bribiescas, Forbes Magazine, 26 Februaruy 2009.
Excerpt: Imagine Larry Summers making that statement when he was president of Harvard, instead of the much milder query he raised about the capacity of women in science that was surely one… More

Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?

– "Is Courage a Masculine Virtue?" In Character, Winter 2009.
Excerpt: Courage is not solely for men, but it is mainly for men. The Greek word for courage is andreia, which comes from he-man and also means manliness. The Greek philosopher Aristotle… More

Too Much Justice?

– "Too Much Justice?," interview in The Utopian, 30 March 2010.
Excerpt: Does justice consist in just institutions? Nowadays, we tend to think of it that way. For us, justice consists,  for example, in the separation of powers or an independent… More

Manliness and Morality

– "Manliness and Morality: The Transgressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn," Weekly Standard, 6 June 2011.
Excerpt: What with Arnold and DSK, male transgression is once again in the news. Let’s not equate the two cases—one is forgivable, the other, if the accusations are true, is not.… More

BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok

– “BS in New Zealand: Social Science Run Amok,” Weekly Standard, 18 June 2012.
Excerpt: Actually BS here stands for “benevolent sexism.” An article by two New Zealand psychologists has come my way that deserves to become a classic of social science. The title… More

Harvard Faculty Speeches, 1975-2006

View pdf version The speeches reported here were given by Harvey C. Mansfield over 31 years to meetings of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They have been edited by him in 2012.… More

Feminism and Its Discontents

– “Feminism and Its Discontents,” Weekly Standard, June 23, 2014.
Excerpt: Feminism is in control of America’s colleges and universities, where its principles at least are held as dogmas unquestioned and unopposed. Yet in what should be a paradise with… More

Conversations with Bill Kristol: Harvey Mansfield II

– Harvey Mansfield (Interview number 2) Conversations with Bill Kristol, September 1, 2014.
In the second of an ongoing series of interviews with the Harvard professor on Conversations with Bill Kristol, Mansfield and Kristol discuss the wisdom of the Federalist, the challenges… More

The Contradiction that Rules Feminism

– "The Contradiction that Rules Feminism," Hoover Institution "Defining Ideas" December 18, 2014.
In this article for the Hoover Institution, Mansfield discusses current OCR regulations and the relation to the modern ideology of feminism. Excerpt: Feminism in the universities is nothing… More

The Theory Behind My Disinvitation

– "The Theory Behind My Disinvitation," The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2019.
Harvey Mansfield reflects on his recent disinvitation from Concordia University and what it reveals about intolerance in the university today. —– Recently I was disinvited from… More