My book “The Empathy Gap: Male Disadvantages and the Mechanisms of Their Neglect” is now available. It can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk and from Amazon.com, or, in the UK, from Waterstones. Non-UK people may find the bookdepository a cheaper option.
I apologise about the price, but at just short of 700 pages, this is the printers costs, not profit.
I have uploaded a number of readings from the book to my YouTube channel, as a taster…
Selected readings from chapter 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRtI_2qJerE
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Education
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Health and Longevity
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Male Genital Mutilation
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Work, Pay, Tax and Pensions
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Imprisonment
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Violence and Abuse
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in the Family Courts
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Alienation and Fatherlessness
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Men’s Fertility and Paternity Fraud
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Homelessness and Mental Health
From the last chapter, a summary of the empathy gap in Rape, False Allegations, and the Story Less Told about Sexual Assault
Finally, the Closing Section
The back cover of the book…(spot the typos – corrected in the production book, be assured)
As an indication of the massive scope of the book, here is the complete Contents…
Preface
1. The Differently Gendered Society
1.1 Purpose of this Book
1.2 Equality?
1.3 What is the Origin of the Empathy Gap?
1.3.1 The Nine Factors Underlying the Empathy Gap
1.3.2 Discussion of the Factors Underlying the Empathy Gap
1.4 Aims and Limitations
2. Education
2.1 Primary School Attainment
2.2 Secondary School Attainment Aged 16
2.3 A Levels
2.4 University Entry
2.5 Gender Gap and the Nature of the Award
2.6 Innate Gender Difference? Adult Competencies
2.7 School Staff and Stereotyping
2.8 University Staff, STEMM and Athena Swan
2.9 Gender Skew in Provision
2.10 Perceptions and Expectations
2.11 Worldwide
2.12 Summary: The Education Empathy Gap
3. Physical Health and Longevity
3.1 Gender Disparity in Premature and Early Death
3.2 The Leading Causes of Premature Death (<75)
3.2.1 Cardiovascular Diseases
3.2.2 Cancers
3.2.3 HIV-AIDS 93
3.3 The Leading Causes of Early Death (<45) 93
3.4 Occupational Health and Workplace Injuries and Deaths 94
3.4.1 Workplace Deaths in History 94
3.4.2 Workplace Deaths Now 96
3.4.3 Non-Fatal Injuries at Work 96
3.4.4 Occupational Health Issues 96
4. Men’s Access to Healthcare and Health Spending by Sex 99
4.1 Men’s Access to Healthcare 99
4.2 Global Health of Men 106
4.3 Healthcare and Health Research Spending 106
4.3.1 USA Healthcare Spending by Sex 107
4.3.2 USA Health Research Spending by Sex 108
4.4 The Empathy Gap in Men’s Health 109
5. Male Genital Mutilation: History and Harm 114
5.1 Anatomy, Histology and Function of the Foreskin 117
5.1.1 Foreskin Development: Retraction 120
5.2 The History of MGM 121
5.3 MGM Procedures, Practitioners and Risk 125
5.3.1 Risks of the Procedure 127
5.4 Prevalence and Incidence of MGM 128
5.5 The Harmful Effects of MGM 131
5.5.1 Studies of Sensitivity 131
5.5.2 Studies of Men’s Sexual Experience after Circumcision 134
5.5.3 Survey Evidence: Men’s Subjective Experience of Circumcision 138
6. MGM: Claimed Benefits and Legality 141
6.1 Background to the 2017 review of Morris et al 141
6.2 Critique of the claims of Morris et al, 2017. 143
6.2.1 Urinary Tract Infections 143
6.2.2 Phimosis 145
6.2.3 Balanitis / Candidiasis 146
6.2.4 Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) 146
6.2.5 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) 146
6.2.6 Other Diseases 150
6.3 The Opinion of Medical Bodies Worldwide 152
6.4 Legal Issues 155
6.4.1 The Illegality of MGM in the UK 155
6.4.2 Attempts to Make MGM Illegal in Other Countries 158
6.5 The Male Genital Mutilation Empathy Gap 161
7. Work, Pay, Tax, Spending and Pensions 164
7.1 UK Unemployment Data 165
7.2 UK Economic Inactivity 167
7.3 Gendered Occupations 169
7.3.1 The Public Sector 171
7.3.2 Armed Forces 172
7.3.3 Apprenticeships 172
7.3.4 The Gender Equality “Paradox” 173
7.3.5 Diversity? 177
7.4 The UK Gender Pay Gap 179
7.5 Gender Pay Gap Reporting: Company Submissions 183
7.6 Working Hours: The Gender Pay Gap is a Work Gap 185
7.7 Spending and Wealth by Sex 189
7.7.1 UK in Year 1993/4 190
7.7.2 Wealth and Spending, UK and USA, 2008 to 2018 192
7.8 Income Taxes 194
7.9 Pensions 196
7.9.1 Occupational and Personal Pensions; the Private and Public Sectors 196
7.9.2 The State Pension 201
7.9.3 Numbers of Payees and Recipients 203
7.9.4 Gender Pension Inequality? 206
7.10 Housework and Unpaid Caring 207
7.10.1 Men and Housework 207
7.10.2 Men as Unpaid Carers 209
7.11 The Empathy Gap in Work, Pay, Wealth, Spending and Taxes 209
8. Imprisonment 213
8.1 Harsher Treatment for Men 213
8.1.1 Harsher Treatment Over Time 213
8.1.2 Harsher Treatment by Sex 215
8.2 Pop Goes the Woozle 233
8.3 Characteristics of Prisoners 235
8.3.1 Children in Prison 236
8.3.2 Prisoners’ IQ 238
8.4 Male Prisoners and Their Families 239
8.5 Self-Harming in Prison 239
8.6 Deaths in Prison 241
8.6.1 Suicide in Prison 241
8.6.2 Deaths in Prison from ‘Natural’ Causes 241
8.7 The Empathy Gap in Imprisonment 243
9. Violence and Abuse 245
9.1 All Violence 245
9.1.1 Victims 245
9.1.2 Perpetrators 251
9.2 Violence and Abuse Within the Home: Men as Victims 253
9.2.1 Incidence of Male Victims: Survey Data 255
9.2.2 Severe Force 258
9.2.3 Demographic Dependence of DA 258
9.2.4 Domestic Violence and Marital Status 259
9.2.5. Repeated Domestic Abuse 260
9.2.6 Reports to Police, Prosecutions and Convictions 260
9.2.7 Domestic Homicides 261
9.2.8 International Studies of Domestic Abuse 268
9.2.9 Dads as Victims of Domestic Violence 270
9.2.10 Domestic Abuse Services: The Sexes Compared 271
9.2.11 Perpetrator Programmes 272
9.3 The Empathy Gap for Men as Victims of Violence 275
10. Family Court Statistics 280
10.1 Family Court Statistics (England and Wales) 280
10.2 The Paramountcy Principle and the Perception of Risk 281
10.3 Legal Aid, LASPO and the Role of False Allegations 282
10.3.1 Legal Aid and LASPO 282
10.3.2 The Domestic Violence Legal Aid Gateway 283
10.3.3 Prevalence of Allegations of Domestic Abuse 285
10.3.4 Which Sex Gets Legal Aid in the Family Courts? 286
10.3.5 Routes through the Gateway 289
10.3.6 Statistics of Domestic Violence Remedy Orders 290
10.4 Lobbying and Serious Case Reviews 292
10.5 The Empathy Gap Against Fathers in the Family Courts 294
11. Are the Family Courts Biased Against Fathers? 296
11.1. Introduction 296
11.2 The 2008 Study of Hunt & MacLeod 297
11.3 Lawyers’, Judges’ and Court Officers’ Opinions 303
11.4 The 2015 Study of Harding and Newnham 304
11.5 Enforcement 308
11.6 What Proportion of Separating Couples Apply to Court? 312
11.7 Actual Contact Outcomes 313
11.8 Financial Issues 317
11.9 The Empathy Gap Against Non-Resident Fathers 318
12. Parental Alienation, ACEs and the Woozling of Shared Parenting 322
12.1 What is Parental Alienation? 322
12.1.1 Prevalence of Alienation 326
12.2 Adverse Childhood Experiences 329
12.2.1 Behaviour and Health Outcomes of ACEs 330
12.2.2 ACEs and Parental Involvement 332
12.3 Woozling Shared Parenting 333
12.4 Parental Conflict and the Benefit of Contact 341
12.5 Empathy Gap in Alienation and Shared Care 342
13. The Drivers of Fatherlessness 343
13.1 Marriage, Divorce, Cohabitation and Single Living: the Data 344
13.2 Statistics on Children’s Living Arrangements 349
13.3 The Decline of Marriage Drives Fatherlessness 351
13.4 The Socioeconomics of Marriage: The Marriage Gap 353
13.5 Summary of the Drivers of Fatherlessness 356
14. The Effect of Fatherlessness on Outcomes for Children 358
14.1 The Differing Perspectives on Fatherhood 359
14.2 Families Without Fatherhood, Dennis & Erdos, 1992 360
14.3 The Big Picture – A Selection of Studies 363
14.4 The Study of Radl, Salazar and Cebolla-Boado, 2017 368
14.5 The Study of McLanahan, Tach and Schneider, 2013 371
14.6 The Indirect Empathy Gap for Fatherless Children 373
15. Paternity and Its Enemies 375
15.1 Men’s Control Over Their Own Fertility 376
15.1.1 Male Contraception 376
15.1.2 Option Denied? 378
15.1.3 Men’s Fertility 380
15.2 Mispaternity and Paternity Fraud 384
15.2.1 Terminology and Perception 384
15.2.2 The Prevalence of Mispaternity 385
15.2.3 Men are Not Legally Entitled to Know if a Child is Theirs (UK) 391
15.2.4 A “Thin View” of Fatherhood? 395
15.3 The Empathy Gap Against Paternity and Male Fertility 402
16. Homelessness and Loneliness 403
16.1 Statutory Homelessness and “Single” Homelessness 403
16.1.1 Statutory Homelessness in England 406
16.1.2 Statutory Homelessness in Scotland 408
16.1.3 Statutory Homelessness in Wales 409
16.1.4 Statutory Homelessness in Northern Ireland 410
16.1.5 Statutory Homelessness: The Big Picture on Gender 410
16.2 Rough Sleepers 411
16.2.1 Rough Sleeper Counts in England 411
16.2.2 CHAIN Data for London 413
16.2.3 Rough Sleeper Counts in Wales 416
16.3 Deaths of Rough Sleepers 417
16.3.1 Bethany Thomas 2012 Data 417
16.3.2 ONS Data 417
16.3.3 Data from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism 419
16.4 Loneliness 421
16.4.1 Loneliness Survey in England 422
16.4.2 Loneliness Survey in Wales 424
16.5 The Empathy Gap in Homelessness and Loneliness 427
17. Mental Ill-Health and Substance Abuse 429
17.1 Mental Ill Health in Adults 430
17.1.1 Common Mental Disorders 430
17.1.2 Personality Disorders 432
17.1.3 Autism Spectrum Disorders 434
17.1.4 Psychotic Disorders 436
17.1.5 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 437
17.1.6 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 438
17.1.7 Bipolar Disorder 439
17.1.8 Mental Disorders and Employment 440
17.1.9 Access to Treatment by Demographic 440
17.2 Mental Ill Health in Children and Young Adults 441
17.2.1 All Disorders 441
17.2.2 Emotional Disorders 443
17.2.3 Behavioural Disorders 444
17.2.4 Hyperactivity Disorders 445
17.2.5 Autism, Eating Disorders and Less Common Disorders 446
17.2.6 Mental Health Medication of Children 447
17.2.7 Demographic, Lifestyle and Sexuality Factors 448
17.2.8 Teenagers and Students in the USA 449
17.3 Substance Abuse 450
17.3.1 Alcohol Abuse 451
17.3.2 Drug Abuse 451
17.4 People Detained under the Mental Health Act 452
17.5 APA and BPS Guidelines for the Psychological Practice with Boys and Men 453
17.5.1 APA Versus Data 461
17.6 The Empathy Gap in Mental Health Perceptions 463
18. Suicide, Suicidality and Self-Harm 466
18.1 Self-Harm, Suicidality and Suicide Attempts (England) 466
18.2 Suicide 470
18.2.1 UK Suicide Statistics and Trends 470
18.2.2 The Suicide Paradox 476
18.2.3 Reasons for the High Male Suicide Rate 476
18.2.4 Methods of Suicide and Suicide Attempts 489
18.3 Male Suicide: Narratives, Rationalisations and Blaming 491
18.4 The Empathy Gap in Suicide 496
19. Rape and False Allegations 501
19.1 Definition of Sexual Offences 502
19.2 Prevalence of Rape and Police Reports 506
19.3 Conviction Statistics for Rape 510
19.3.1 Sex of Rape Victims and Defendants 516
19.4 Attrition 517
19.5 Rape Trials and Juries 521
19.5.1 Video Evidence by Complainants 522
19.5.2 “Training” Rape Trial Juries 522
19.5.3 Rape Trials Without Juries? 523
19.6 False Allegations of Rape 524
19.6.1 The Harm Done by False Allegations 531
19.7 Disclosure 533
19.8 The Empathy Gap in Accusations of Sexual Assault 540
20. Sexual Assault: The Story Less Told 543
20.1 Sex Offender Prisoner Statistics (UK) 544
20.2 Examples of Women’s Sexual Abuse of Minors 546
20.3 The Prevalence of Female Sexual Abuse of Minors (UK) 550
20.4 Male Offenders’ History of Childhood Sexual Abuse 552
20.5 Perceptions of Female Perpetration and the Damage Done 556
20.6 The Sex of the Victim 558
20.7 Female Offender Sentencing 559
20.8 Female Sexual Offending in Correctional Facilities in the USA 560
20.9 Sexual Assault of Adult Men by Women 563
20.10 Adult Prison Sexual Assault 568
20.11 War Rape 570
20.12 The Empathy Gap in Sexual Assault 572
21. Reprise: The Case for the Empathy Gap 575
21.1 Education 578
21.2 Health and Longevity 579
21.3 Male Genital Mutilation 581
21.4 Work, Pay, Tax and Pensions 582
21.5 Imprisonment 584
21.6 Violence and Abuse 585
21.7 Family Courts 588
21.8 Alienation, ACES and Shared Care 590
21.9 Drivers of Fatherlessness 591
21.10 Effects of Fatherlessness on Children 591
21.11 Men’s Fertility and Paternity Fraud 592
21.12 Homelessness and Loneliness 593
21.13 Mental Health 594
21.14 Suicide 595
21.15 Rape and False Allegations 598
21.16 Sexual Assault: The Story Less Told 599
21.17 In Conclusion 601
Acronyms 603
References 607
Index 671
Hi William,
I refer you to a post on reddit/mensrights, you might be interested in: https://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/dmxekr/request_assistance_from_a_uk_mra/
Thanks – but it seems to be marked “solved” now. I was impressed by the trouble he was willing to go to to get hold of my book.
I hadn’t quite grasped the huge scale of this tome (until it was hauled out of the Antonov An-225 that had to deliver it). At £19.95 it’s an absolute bargain. The labour, the research, the erudition are truly impressive.
My concern, however, is that most if not all of its readers will be the already converted, and it will have limited impact beyond.
I agree with your misgiving. For that reason I never really intended to write a book. It’s genesis is another story.
Order placed! I am quite excited about reading this remarkable opus; I hope it will reach a wider readership than the already-converted.
Just an FYI, ordered the book from Amazon.co.uk on the 17th July. Just got an email from them that, “Our supplier has informed us that this item is no longer available” and they cancelled the order. Will try Waterstones I suppose :/
Yes, do try Waterstones (https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-empathy-gap/9780957168886). They have delivered to me in 8 days (UK) and are still selling at the original price (£19.95) as of 10/8/19.
Amazon has just made “The Empathy Gap” available in Canada. I have ordered my copy. Thank you for all your very hard work!
My father was bullied by my mother for most of their married life and occasionally things slipped over into physical violence on her part. I will order your book from our local Waterstones.
William, is it just you producing all this stuff, or are you in fact quintuplets?
I will buy two copies. One for myself and one to send to the Guardian. I don’t imagine they will review it but you never know.
Excellent!
Bravo! Where might I buy a personally autographed copy of your book please William?
I haven’t even got a production copy myself to sign yet.
Thanks for this comprehensive look at the elephant in the room. I will refer my medical director and my doctor to it in a few days. It’s wonderful to have something so solid to use when discussing the one topic that lots of professionals love to deny, mock, and discount.
As an aside, I wondered whether you covered female-male rape/child-rape in the book somewhere given that the latest research shows that they occur at near-parity with male-female forms of rape/child rape.
Yes, “the story less told” about sexual abuse is in chapter 20.
Hello, thanks for the great website and the great book.
Please release the book as a Kindle e-book or a PDF e-book. Thank you.
I have given an ebook some thought but have no plans at present to produce one. The reason is that the bulk of the book is heavy with data, including 179 Figures, mostly graphs, and my experience with Kindle is that this material just does not come across adequately in that format. pdf is potentially more workable. Will give it more thought.
Thank you, William. You are right that charts, maps and the like often come out poorly in the Kindle format, but come out fairly well in PDF format. Please do release the book as a PDF when you can. Thank you.
Dear William,
I understand your worries about how data is deal with on Kindle. I would still ask you to consider it as for those of us who are dyslexic the kindle’s ability to change the look of the text can be the difference between being able to read it or not.
Also, I wondered if an audiobook might be in the works?
OK, I hear you re ebook/Kindle. Re: audio book, it would not work with audio only as the bulk of the book is thick with graphs & tables. However, video with spoken word & graphics on screen is entirely do-able – it’s a matter of finding the time.
Ordered. I hope it isn’t as depressing as your page on The Domestic Abuse Bill.
Sorry, but I suspect it probably is. The management accepts no responsibility for depressing content on the grounds that this could only reasonably have been expected!
Purchased your book and look forward to reading it upon arrival.