Author Description

Beginning in the 1940s with Hollywood's image of the American woman, this book goes on to discuss images of home, family, and domesticity in the 1950s and the impact of Betty Friedan's The Feminist Mystique on the 1960s generation. Next, it examines the 1970s, the so-called golden age of American feminism, including sexual politics and reactionary rhetoric about lesbians and women who didn't follow the party line. Antifeminist cultural discourses on women's rights, including Susan Faludi's Backlash, are discussed in relation to abortion, equal pay for equal work, and other political, social, and cultural issues. The book assesses the highly charged sexual politics of the 1990s using the writings of Camilla Paglia, Naomi Wolf, and Katie Roiphe to analyze different levels of postfeminism. With examples from the mass media, film, literature, popular culture, art, and art criticism, this book surveys the impact of the American feminist movement, how it originated, why certain ideas and images had to change and how this movement shaped our notions of feminine and masculine over the last fifty years. A Feminist Critique is a fair and much-needed overview of the accomplishments, issues, and goals of the feminist movement and its future course.