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Backlash
The Undeclared War Against American Women
746 pages
A meticulously researched, galvanizing wake-up call that cuts through cultural gaslighting to reveal the systemic pushback against women's progress.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like putting on a pair of glasses that suddenly brings a blurry, frustrating world into sharp, undeniable focus. It is a steady, meticulously researched dismantling of the cultural gaslighting that tells women their dissatisfaction is their own fault. The mood is sobering yet deeply galvanizing, replacing vague anxieties with hard data and incisive cultural critique. The prose is authoritative and urgent, weaving together media analysis, statistics, and social history with a passionate precision that never loses its grip. It is an essential, eye-opening experience for anyone who has ever felt that societal progress is a pendulum, offering a righteous, validating journey from confusion to absolute clarity.
- Mood
- sobering
- galvanizing
- righteous
- eye-opening
- Tone
- incisive
- urgent
- analytical
- authoritative
- passionate
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- systemic inequality · media manipulation · cultural regression · the illusion of progress · feminist resistance
- The writing
- Meticulously researched and sharply argued, blending statistical rigor with compelling cultural critique.
- The arc
- Moves from a sense of gaslit confusion to sharp, validating clarity and righteous anger.
- Who it's for
- Readers who want to understand the hidden cultural forces shaping women's lives and those seeking historical context for modern feminist struggles.
Content notes
- sexism and misogyny
- systemic discrimination
- discussions of reproductive rights
About the book
Skillfully Probing the Attack on Women's Rights
"Opting-out," "security moms," "desperate housewives," "the new baby fever"--the trend stories of 2006 leave no doubt that American women are still being barraged by the same backlash messages that Susan Faludi brilliantly exposed in her 1991 bestselling book of revelations.
Now, the book that reignited the feminist movement is back in a fifteenth anniversary edition, with a new preface by the author that brings backlash consciousness up to date. When it was first published, Backlash made headlines for puncturing such favorite media myths as the "infertility epidemic" and the "man shortage," myths that defied statistical realities. These willfully fictitious media campaigns added up to an antifeminist backlash. Whatever progress feminism has recently made, Faludi's words today seem prophetic. The media still love stories about stay-at-home moms and the "dangers" of women's career ambitions; the glass ceiling is still low; women are still punished for wanting to succeed; basic reproductive rights are still hanging by a thread. The backlash clearly exists.
With passion and precision, Faludi shows in her new preface how the creators of commercial culture distort feminist concepts to sell products while selling women downstream, how the feminist ethic of economic independence is twisted into the consumer ethic of buying power, and how the feminist quest for self-determination is warped into a self-centered quest for self-improvement. Backlash is a classic of feminism, an alarm bell for women of every generation, reminding us of the dangers that we still face. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Description from Open Library.
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