Backlash by Susan Faludi

Backlash

by Susan Faludi

This study is an account of the "war" against women, the insidiously manipulated political and cultural backlash against the hard-won equality and independence which women achieved in the 1970s and 1980s. Using examples from all areas of public life (advertising, film, TV, fashion, politics), Faludi, in this revised edition for Britain and the rest of the world, presents a damning picture of the erosion of women's status at the end of the 20th century. The author has won the Pulitzer Prize for an article she wrote for the "Wall Street Journal".

Reviewed by wyvernfriend on

5 of 5 stars

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You look at this book, my edition was published in 1992 and you kinda ask what relevance there is to this book, I mean it's over 20 years old, yeah, and we've learned nothing. We're revisiting the same old tired shite again and again, being told that feminism is over, that people are tired of hearing about it that we have equality, why are we still fighting?

Because 20 years later we still:

Have inequity in wages
Have poor representation in TV and film and if we speak out less than men in debates we're perceived as trying to dominate the conversation.
Have people try to tell us that domestic chores are innate, that we should prefer them to working out of the home
Have people say that pink is the colour we should choose
Even though, and this kinda shocked me, research in the 1970s (by John T Molloy, see pages 209-211) show that women get more respect and time in a business environment. That "dressing to succeed in business and dressing to be sexually attractive are almost mutually exclusive" and that maybe this needs updating but maybe also more choice in women's business clothing might be a good thing, that maybe dressing in the same suit for a year (with different shirts/blouses) might be accepted? That it shouldn't be a choice between 3" and 4" heels for court shoes and that "women in comfortable shoes" wouldn't be a veiled insult?
Have women giggle about how they're not good at maths because they're women.
Have girls out perform boys in STEM subjects in school but be actively discouraged from a career in these disciplines
Have a majority of doctors female but still imagery for young girls is that they're nurses, and rejection of male nursing.
The over-sexualisation of Halloween costumes for both adults and young girls (hey if you want to wear it, fine, can I have a choice too?)
Radio stations announcing that they are cutting down on female voices because people don't like them, not that they schedule them against popular choices.

This book looks at some of the backlashes and shines a torch on them and asks why we put up with it.

So tell me, why do we?

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  • Started reading
  • 15 December, 2014: Finished reading
  • 15 December, 2014: Reviewed