I am trying to count the number of "males" within a certain date.

When I first started, I only had one date to pick from, so my formula was:
=COUNTIF(E8:E56,"M")

But now that I have multiple dates to choose from I tried using this function:
=SUMPRODUCT(--(M8:M56="10/2/2008")--(E8:E56="M"))

Any suggestions?