Susan Faludi, author of the acclaimed Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (1991), began her new research several years
ago with this question: Why are men so disturbed by the prospect of women?s independence? Why do so many men seem to begrudge it, resent it, fear it, and fight it with an unholy passion? The result, 8 years in the making, is Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man, her 662-page answer.
There are two major discussions that an evaluation of Faludi?s thesis
requires that will not be undertaken here. Comparing men?s current predicaments,
such as being downsized, laid off, or treated badly by their
employers, with a legal and cultural system that sanctioned outright discrimination against women, prohibiting them from certain occupations and offering them blatantly unequal legal rights, is certainly a stretch that threatens the validity of her thesis. |