Maureen Dowd's assertions are food for thought. I wonder, if some of her thinking is influenced by the people she has surrounded herself with. I am a 38 year old member of Generation X who has greatly benefitted by the choices feminism gave me in life. I see the same thing with other friends my age. For those who came before to fight for our rights THANK YOU. It was always reinforced to me that feminism is about CHOICE. My generation has reaped the benefits! I never ever wanted children and I love to compete in the sales arena thanks to feminism I get to enjoy my choices without being treated like I am some sort of freak or less feminine because I don't want to be a mother. I have a friend who wanted children but was the better breadwinner and loved her career so she works and her husband stays home with the kids. I have yet another friend whose lifelong dream was to be a stay at home mother. When she got pregnant she left her Human Resources Director job and never looked back. All of us made different choices and all are happy. I never believed feminism was men versus women. Men have played a vital role as mentors in my development and I have found them to be extremely supportive in promoting my career aspirations. Men are also a vital element to family life, whether its just a couple like my husband and I, or a stay at home father like my friend, or the traditional breadwinner like my other friend. I personally believe men and women act as a great balance to one another and that the men of my generation have coped well with the societal changes. Again, I think we are influenced by the people we surround ourselves with. I live in Texas where despite the "redneck myth" women seem to be a lot more independent here than when I go back to the Northeast to visit my husband's family. I am tired of people saying feminism is dead and feminism didn't work-when clearly for me and my friends it did exactly what the women who fought so hard for our rights hoped for. It gave us the choice to be who we really are inside and follow our dreams! Thanks Ladies and Gents!

Maureen Dowd's assertions are food for thought. I wonder, if some of her thinking is influenced by the people she has surrounded herself with. I am a 38 year old member of Generation X who has greatly benefitted by the choices feminism gave me in life. I see the same thing with other friends my age. For those who came before to fight for our rights THANK YOU. It was always reinforced to me that feminism is about CHOICE. My generation has reaped the benefits! I never ever wanted children and I love to compete in the sales arena thanks to feminism I get to enjoy my choices without being treated like I am some sort of freak or less feminine because I don't want to be a mother. I have a friend who wanted children but was the better breadwinner and loved her career so she works and her husband stays home with the kids. I have yet another friend whose lifelong dream was to be a stay at home mother. When she got pregnant she left her Human Resources Director job and never looked back. All of us made different choices and all are happy. I never believed feminism was men versus women. Men have played a vital role as mentors in my development and I have found them to be extremely supportive in promoting my career aspirations. Men are also a vital element to family life, whether its just a couple like my husband and I, or a stay at home father like my friend, or the traditional breadwinner like my other friend. I personally believe men and women act as a great balance to one another and that the men of my generation have coped well with the societal changes. Again, I think we are influenced by the people we surround ourselves with. I live in Texas where despite the "redneck myth" women seem to be a lot more independent here than when I go back to the Northeast to visit my husband's family. I am tired of people saying feminism is dead and feminism didn't work-when clearly for me and my friends it did exactly what the women who fought so hard for our rights hoped for. It gave us the choice to be who we really are inside and follow our dreams! Thanks Ladies and Gents!

Felicity and S Lynn might have a point: maybe Salon's new scheme includes annoying readers into generating content for them.

What's next? Traister reviewing Dowd's opinion of life-like dolls? THAT should get some content rolling in!

When I hear women complain about the male inability to respect intelligence and power in the opposite sex, I often wonder whether they share the same insecurities about female dominance. Is it possible that "successful" women like Traister and Dowd struggle in their search for a male companion because they are predisposed toward being attracted to men who are taller, older, richer, and stronger? Some will argue this mentality is evolutionary, and others will claim it's societal; but regardless of its origins, I find it to be more common than many of us would like to admit.

In her interview with Benjamin Kunkel about his novel, Indecision, Ms. Traister said, "That assumption, that generally young men are unworthy of their female counterparts, is certainly in your book. I would get hanged for saying it, but there's an uncomfortable truth there." Perhaps these men are worthwhile, contributing members of society, but because they don't occupy a status-level that is, at the very least, akin to that of Ms. Traister, she finds them sexually unappealing.

I've been a long-time believer in the benefits of feminism, and I generally have not wavered. But I've begun to wonder if women have unwittingly rendered men less attractive.