by Shelly Ridenour
It's been seven years since Susan Faludi brought the word "feminist" back to the forefront of relevant pundit discussion with the publication of her groundbreaking book "Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women." And, if you believe the soundbites, the last thing anyone expected her to do was write a book that's sympathetic to the other gender.
But, as the former Wall Street Journal reporter (she won a 1991 Pulitzer Prize for her labor reports) is quick to point out, " As a feminist, you can't ignore men. Despite the media's shock, there's a long line of feminists, going back to Mary Wollstonecraft, who realized that women's liberation can't come without men's. Both have stifling bonds to break."
And perhaps it's not even fair to call "Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man" sympathetic. For her part, Faludi sees it as "empathetic. I don't want to suggest pity, but it is trying to see experiences through their eyes. It is empathetic in that so much of the predicament of interviewees was familiar to me as a woman and a feminist -- the bind of feeling judged for how you look rather than what you do."
Faludi profiles astronaut Buzz Aldrin, L.A. gangbangers and the editorial staff at Details, questioning what masculinity means in a culture that values show over substance. Picking up at the end of World War II, a time of such American masculinity, Faludi traces the domestic apocalypse: from the phenomenon of the Angry White Male to the Million Man March, Tailhook to the Citadel, militiamen bombing federal buildings and abortion centers, as well as the rash of school and workplace shootings.
Some of Faludi's most interesting observations focus on young men, be they shooting-spree killers or the notorious Spur Posse (the group of California boys who gained national news coverage for their sex-points contest); of the latter, Faludi has said, "They were denounced for their behavior toward women, and rightly so. But no one looked at their real motivation, which wasn't preying on women but competing with them for the spotlight."
"Part of it is changing social roles," she says of such behavior. "Older men remember a time when their fathers had a useful role to play -- helping get out the vote, serving in a war that the nation was behind, pursuing a valuable craft. For younger men, the possibilities are just not there; they're caught adrift, and the one thing they can cling to is a destructive stereotype, which may be the explanation for churlish displays of masculinity like Maxim magazine and 'The Man Show'. They're caricatures, but they're comforting."
Still, the shifts in cultural stereotypes and social roles aren't all damaging. "For some men, feminist changes have been liberating," the author says. "They don't feel obliged to live up to rigid stereotypes and can define themselves more broadly." And the feminists and Faludi fans rejoiced.
Susan Faludi reads from her work, October 4, 7pm, Breasted Hall at the Oriental Institute, 1155 East 58th, (773)684-1300.
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.