Susan Faludi's View of Women's Liberation

Susan Faludi, in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, offers a critique of the condition of women in the country at a time when it seems to be generally accepted that feminism has triumphed. Faludi argues that, to the contrary, the society remains resistent to women's liberation and equality. The title of the book refers to forces in the American culture, some blatant and some subtle, which continue to resist and place obstacles in the way of feminist goals. Faludi writes that the "rhetoric" of the

backlash against women's rights . . . charges feminists with all the crimes it perpetrates. The backlash line blames the women's movement for the "feminization of poverty"---while the backlash's own instigators in Washington pushed through the budget cuts that helped impoverish millions of women, fought pay equity proposals, and undermined equal opportunity laws (xxii).

In other words, simply because women have indeed made great strides in securing their rights and equality, this does not in any way mean that anti-woman fears and biases have disappeared from the society. With respect to these anti-feminist sentiments, Faludi writes that "the fact that these are still such incendiary notions should tell us that American women have a way to go before they enter the promised land of equality" (xxiii).

The book examines the varieties of this backlash phenomenon for the purpose of exposing it in all its guises, making the reader aware of it, and trying to eliminate

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ty, women need to back off from their continuing demands for equality. In this context, Faludi effectively explores the effects of the different varieties of backlash rhetoric. For example, she notes that some backlash spokesmen---or even spokeswomen---press their arguments in feminist guise. Others simply argue cynically that feminism is outdated, that it has had its day and is boring and without real meaning, that women have, as a group, won every important battle and now should simply shut up and take individual advantage of a spectrum of opportunities, if they so desire. Faludi writes in summarizing this situation: It is hard enough to expose antifeminist sentiments when they are dressed up in feminist clothes. But it is far tougher to confront a foe that professes not to care. Even the unmitigated furor of an antiabortion "soldier" may be preferable to the jaundiced eye of the sitcom spokesmen. Feminism is "so '70s," the pop culture's ironists say, stifling a yawn. . . . They . . . are beyond even pretending to care (72). This examination is effective because it highlights the nature of American society as a whole. This is a culture which highly values "being cool" and "being hip" and there is nothing more "uncool" and "

Category: Psychology - S