Contents Notes |
Introduction : blame it on feminism -- Man shortages and barren wombs : the myths of the backlash -- Backlashes then and now -- The "trends" of antifeminism : the media and the backlash -- Fatal and fetal visions : the backlash in the movies -- Teen angels and unwed witches : the backlash on TV -- Dressing the dolls : the fashion backlash -- Beauty and the backlash -- The politics of resentment : the new right's war on women -- Ms. Smith leaves Washington : the backlash in national politics -- The backlash brain trust : from neocons to neofems -- It's all in your mind : popular psychology joins the backlash -- The wages of the backlash : the toll on working women -- Reproductive rights under the backlash : the invasion of women's bodies. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle award for nonfiction, this controversial, thought-provoking, and timely book is "as groundbreaking as Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique"--Newsweek. Faludi lays out a two-fold thesis in this aggressive work: First, despite the opinions of pop-psychologists and the mainstream media, career-minded women are generally not husband-starved loners on the verge of nervous breakdowns. Secondly, such beliefs are nothing more than anti-feminist propaganda pumped out by conservative research organizations with clear-cut ulterior motives. This backlash against the women's movement, she writes, "stands the truth boldly on its head and proclaims that the very steps that have elevated women's positions have actually led to their downfall." When it was first published, Backlash made headlines for puncturing such favorite media myths as the "infertility epidemic" and the "man shortage," myths that defied statistical realities. These willfully fictitious media campaigns added up to an antifeminist backlash. Whatever progress feminism has recently made, Faludi's words today seem prophetic. The media still love stories about stay-at-home moms and the "dangers" of women's career ambitions; the glass ceiling is still low; women are still punished for wanting to succeed; basic reproductive rights are still hanging by a thread. The backlash clearly exists. |