The liberation of women in the West has gradually transformed the status and image of masculinity. The traditional figure of the dominating, protective male who expresses himself in action has given way to other models. The upheaval in day-to-day relations between men and women has dealt a serious blow to male dominance; it has also, it would seem, resulted in the emergence of a new generation of men.
But is this generation revelling in a new form of masculinity, freed of machismo, while rejoicing in the equality between the sexes? Or, on the contrary, deprived of traditional guidelines, do these “new men” feel dispossessed of their identity and powerless to stop continued changes to masculinity and a further loss of privileges?
In this book, psychoanalysts, physicians, anthropologists, writers, historians, lawyers and philosophers examine the transformations that the “first sex” has undergone. They study the new forms of transmission and focus on contemporary male models, from father to son.
In recent years, the Gypsy colloquia have brought together experts from various fields to review recent changes in such areas as maternity, paternity, forms of procreation, and gender representation. The present volume is a preview of contributions that will be presented on 17th and 18th November at the Museum of Natural History, in Paris, during the 2007 Gypsy colloquium.


Muriel Flis-Trèves is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
René Frydman, a gynaecologist and obstetrician, is the head of Maternity at the Hôpital Antoine-Béclère, in Clamart, a Paris suburb.
Contributors include: Irène Diamantis, Sylviane Giampino, Boris Cyrulnik, Henri Atlan, Christophe Girard, Jean-Loup Clément, Jacqueline Rémy, Serge Héfez, Nicolas Fargues, Philippe Grimbert, Bernard Golse, Jean-Claude Ameisen, André Rauch, Diana Bouhsira.