Letters to the Editor
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Faith in what?
And I sort of want to tell them: Have a little faith.
It must be asked: faith in what? Americans — even thoughtful Americans like Salon writers — have been holding onto faith that this, too, shall pass for a month shy of 7 years, and at every turn, every hanging chad and Supreme Court decision and con and bedazzlement and bamboozlement we as a people have said to ourselves, "Well, it will all turn out for the best, we'll get past this."
And it has gotten worse.
So if you haven't been ready to listen to the little people who rant and rave in our tiny voices, then do listen to Springsteen. There are times when musicians and writers appear to be lone voices of alarm solely because they're the leading edge. It's like that humorous t-shirt that reads, "I am a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up."
There are occasions when all that's needed for wickedness to triumph is for good people to content themselves with faith, and shrink from the courage to say out loud what's happening to them.
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What?
Are you kidding me? Ms. Faludi needs to get out of whatever shell she has been living under, knock the boulder sized chip off of her shoulder, and spend some time amongst real women. If 9/11 pushed women back into the kitchen, someone forgot to tell me and all of my female friends.
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There may be a backlash, but it sure ain't against educated white women in America
Girls, ladies--ya'll have it good.
I see no backlash against women--I see a hard return to the traditional gender role for men as masculine, impulsive, assertive, strong and violent.
And I see the range of options for women continue to widen--the masculinzed Hilary, the ultra feminine but "empowered" girls in heels, the leveling of the sexual playing field (whatever that means!), the proud 'One D at a time girls', the "proud stay at home Mommy" and the increase of women in all sorts of power positions from pundits to government players, and the return of the traditional date where the guy pays for everything. Which I like! Going dutch was like an foreshadowing of overthought-sex.
Honestly, I think it's pretty good. I remember things being pretty PC and rigid for women in the 1990s--and they got offended when I tried to pay for dinner. Frankly I see gender role options much more limited for men now. You're a John Wayne protege or you're not only weak, but the time you're taking to weigh consequences will let the terrorists get the drop on U.S.
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Faludi's book a waste of time
Never have held Susan Faludi's writings in very high regard. This latest book is typical. She examines all events with the same lens; she takes events, facts and forces them to fit her thesis. Ms. Traister examines some of the flaws in this latest book. I could mention a few other - like the increasing number of women serving in combat roles in Iraq & Afganistan, and while I'd rather not see either our young men or women over there, it does make me wonder about Faludi's assertion that women are being sent back to their kitchens. Where does she live? Because I certainly don't see that where I live. People are losing there homes to foreclosure even with both adults working!
I remember some of the post/9/11 testosterone- charged rhetoric, but I can't see that it left any lasting affect; with so many really serious, I mean really serious challenges facing our country, I don't think anyone but maybe the most extreme off the wall right wingers are plotting to send women back to the kitchen. Personally I think Susan Faludi's book is a waste of time.
No comments on Bruce Springsteen. He writes great music!
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I don't get it...
Where's the causative link? 9/11 -> down with feminism?? It doesn't make sense. Who ever pointed to feminism as a reason we got attacked by terrorists? Or, who ever said, ooh, we're at war, time to send women home? Maybe I missed something...perhaps the last writer got it more right...that the categories for men shrunk. But though "9/11 changed everything" I just don't see how it changed feminism...
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Faludi's Thesis is so Completely Bogus and Pathetic
I hate to waste vowels on it.
She is the worst type of huckster. There is a ready market for women to beat their breasts, aggrandizing their gender. Faludi taps it by chronicling random events and trying to force fit them into an overwrought but big idea, the kind that gets media attention.
If a guy wrote that men have been limited in their roles to macho imagery since 9/11, you think that book would get the same sort of hearing in the feminized media? Of course not, because men are tools, they exist to serve women. you don't write about the slaves, only about those with the leisure to stare at their nipples all day long.
To put the Divine Bruce Springsteen alongside this wholesale shyster Faludi is the ultimate DISSERVICE to the BOSS. I will never forget the bodyblow I felt after I read all of Stiffed and wondered why the fuck it is WOMEN who are describing what is ailing men? The book felt false, over stuffed, and as if Faludi herself had stiffed men, maybe for fun. Do you women let us men define you?
I wish losers like Faludi would go away, but too many women believe that they are superior to men and love to read endlessly about their supposed victimization at the hands of the evil, inhuman men (who incidentally are taking ALL the risks trying to protect this country from those who manifested 9/11)
Really, how can feminism be expected to be taken seriously with such drivel being elevated to the status of pure gold?
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Flight 93 A "Myth"?
Feminism is good; bad things have been done to women (and a few innocenet men here and there), but the stories of courage on Flight 93 were a "myth" -- merely because the passengers who charged the cabin were males? Come on, lady!
9/11 occurred in an atmosphere of shallow social commentators clucking their thick tongues and pondering aloud, "Are men necessary any longer?" It was a stupid question then, and 9/11 merely gave people the perfect opportunity to expose it as a stupid question. When people saw firemen and policemen and, yes, the men on Flight 93 putting their enhanced levels of testosterone to good use, a lot of folks said, "Hmm, well that's one thing men are good for." That was the "backlash" against feminism -- not a "backlash" at all, but the realization that men are good for SOMETHING. I was at the Columbus Day parade in New York shortly thereafter when firemen were downright cheered -- yes, I heard the word "heroes" screamed -- by women.
How dare you dishonor the deeds of the heroes on Flight 93 just because most of the heroes happened to be men.