Female & Male

Why are men and women so different? Two of the world's leading contemporary thinkers, Leonardo Boff and Rose Marie Muraro, attempt to analyze this question—and its possible answer—in a provocative work, now with a new edition by Record, resulting in a fundamental treatise on gender issues. In this book, the authors reflect deeply on sexuality and show how conflicts between the genders can lead to the destruction of humanity. Both authors arrive at the same conclusions through completely different paths. Boff traces a panorama of sexuality from the earliest living beings to the present day, analyzes human evolution, and addresses the biological, historical, social, and theological aspects of the construction of the feminine and the masculine. His text is that of a man living his masculine self. He is theoretical and generalizing, but, unlike other men, he also lives his feminine self in the most profound way. It is a writing full of tenderness and love. Rose, in turn, focuses on symbolic processes and establishes connections between sexuality, family, and the economic system. Their work is complemented by research with 1,259 Brazilian men and women from various social classes. Rather than divergent, the texts naturally converge in their proposals for a world in which men and women are no longer strangers to each other, but rather companions. The joint edition by Leonardo Boff and Rose Marie Muraro goes far beyond the mere combination of two texts by different authors. As theorists, they aim for identical results, even though they cross different paths. As individuals, they share their testimony and engage in social movements for the excluded and for women. And they see, above all, sexuality and gender as fundamental aspects of the changes necessary for better personal coexistence between men and women and for the establishment of a new, more just, less violent, and, above all, supportive social order. FEMININE AND MASCULINE is a thought-provoking work that questions the great patriarchal theories, Freudian psychoanalysis, and even theology produced from the male perspective. As Rainer Maria Rilke said, only when men and women are integrated again will humanity be able to revive.