Faludi Connects Men, Feminism

The well-known feminist author Susan C. Faludi '81 issued an S.O.S. on behalf of American men last night in Sanders Theatre, where she spoke before an audience of about 500 Harvard community members.

Faludi, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of the best-selling 1991 book, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women returned to Harvard, where she earned her undergraduate degree, to talk about her latest work, Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man.

Backlash attacked the notion that feminism eradicated discrimination against women. Now Faludi has turned her attention to the plight of American men.

During the course of her hour-long speech, which was followed by a question-and-answer period, Faludi expounded upon the thesis of Stiffed, arguing that neither men nor feminists are to blame for the current crisis of manliness in America.

Rather, Faludi said, "men have suffered layers of betrayal," the deepest of which is the demise of utilitarian society and its replacement by a consumer-driven culture in which "celebrity and sex-value are all that matter."

"We live in a world of images," Faludi said, adding that men have suffered from a kind of fame syndrome.

"You're not a man [anymore] unless you play one on television," Faludi quipped.

Though she conceded that she is an unlikely candidate for the job of counseling American men, Faludi said lessons from the feminists' struggle can be applied to the situation confronting men today.

"The last thing a man in distress wants to see coming over the horizon [to save him] is a feminist in battle gear," she said, eliciting chuckles from the crowd.

But, she added, "feminism holds a key to men's predicament."

In researching her book, Faludi, a former Crimson editor, said she journeyed deep into male territory, interviewing unemployed family men, disgruntled sports fans, troubled teenage boys and disillusioned war veterans.

Among the most controversial claims in Stiffed is Faludi's defense of the Spur Posse, a group of male high school students in the early 1990s who engaged in a sex-for-points contest that rocked their Lakewood, Calif., community and received national media attention.

Though members of the Spur Posse wrongly victimized young women, according to Faludi, she added that their motive in doing so was "to compete for the spotlight," which has become all-important in society today.

Men are now striving for validation in a culture that prizes "the winningest Viagra performance," Faludi explained.

Harvard students in attendance last night said they generally approved of Faludi's analysis.

"She is very sensitive," Jeanne M. Cawse '01 said. "I see what she means in terms of men having difficulty living up to standards of masculinity."

But even Faludi's fans received her remarks with a measure of skepticism. David B. Orr '01, who said he read Backlash but has not yet picked up Stiffed, said he was surprised that Faludi did not "talk about the positive effects of the breakdown of the patriarchy on men."

After her speech, Faludi offered one explanation for the message of alarm she sounds in Stiffed.

"There's a feeling in the culture that something's gone awry," Faludi said. "It's been a year of schoolyard shootings, men going ballistic, and a political campaign shaping up to be a father-son drama."