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Interactions Access Reading, 4/e

Pamela Hartmann, Los Angeles Unified School District
James Mentel, Los Angeles Unified School District

Men and Women

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Mars and Venus

Relationships are hard. Even two people who are in love sometimes argue or have problems with their relationship. Because love can be confusing and difficult, self-help books about relationships are very popular. A self-help book is a book that tries to help people understand and solve their own problems. One popular self-help book is called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, by John Gray, Ph.D. Gray's book focuses on the idea that men and women are very different. He creates a metaphor that they are from two different planets, Mars and Venus. According to Gray, men and women need to learn about each other's differences in order to understand each other and get along.

Many people agree with Dr. Gray's ideas. Millions of people have read his book and believe that Dr. Gray's ideas are very helpful. One reader said, "I love this book. I have read it three times. We truly are different beings from different planets and once we learn how to deal with the opposite sex, everything else in our lives becomes happier." Dr. Gray is a popular speaker and has been a guest on many talk shows and radio programs. He has also published other self-help books, such as Mars and Venus on a Date and Mars and Venus at the Workplace.

Other people do not agree with Dr. Gray. They think that he is making money by selling stereotypes. In other words, they think he uses fixed ideas about what people are like, ideas that are often wrong. For instance, he says that women are emotional and needy. He also says that women are more verbal than men—they need to talk about their feelings more. Gray presents men as logical but insensitive and says that they don't need to express their feelings. One reader said about the book, "I strongly believe that most of our differences come from social influences and are not biological, as Gray says they are. I am glad there are people who found this book helpful, but for me it seems sexist and outdated."

Dr. Gray makes a lot of generalizations when trying to solve the problems of love; he says things that are very basic, but not necessarily true. This is because it is impossible to make one or two statements that are true about all men and all women. That is why some people find Gray's book offensive; it makes them angry and upset. But others think it is very helpful. These people have found answers to their problems. So the question remains, if Gray helps millions of people with their problems, does it matter if he uses stereotypes? You decide.

Finding the Main Ideas


1	A synopsis gives the information of a text in a very short way. Here are three synopses of the article you just read. Choose the best synopsis for the article.
		A)	John Gray, Ph. D. wrote a book about relationships called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. He talks about the differences between men and women, and how to understand those differences. His book is very popular and gives a lot of good advice about love.
		B)	Many people try to find the answers to their relationship problems by reading self-help books. One popular self-help book is Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray. It talks about the differences between men and women. Although the book is very popular and many people like it, other people find the book offensive.
		C)	Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus has helped a lot of people with their relationships. It has sold millions of copies. Its author, John Gray, has been on talk shows and radio programs.

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