Last week I wrote a column discussing bad marriage advice I had been given from fundamentalist Christians in various organizations I inhabited before and after I married. It quickly became clear there was plenty of material for more than one column. Responses also made me realize something else: Even though my personal experience, and therefore my expertise, lies in how bad advice affects women and children, I need to address how it can harm men as well.

It is common in academics that when we study the effects of laws, rules, religious beliefs, family and other social structures that we tend to focus on the people who are disempowered by them. As we should. But I remember doing this with race relations--focusing on minorities who were oppressed by these systems--and it dawned on me that even though minorities can be pitted against whites in these stories, the toxic environment is not healthy for anyone.

It is when we see everyone working together to create a better world that we make the most progress. Change comes quicker to America when the dominant group also gets on board.

The same is true when it comes to bad........

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