Faludi

I had trouble with the pieces by Faludi. I thought they were well approached and meticulously done, however, there are a lot of moments where she will claim statistics and never cite them. This is a huge problem for me. For example, on page seventeen Faludi states, “the suicide rate of single men is twice of that of single women”. That may be true, but there are no sources. Faludi has no problem with ad hominem attacks. She constantly goes for the study, and then personally attacks the people who conducted the study based on their character. For example, Faludi attacks Bennett for the Harvard-Yale study by implying that the studies are false and tainted because they will not directly answer questions about the studies. That seems like a horrible argument that would not be able to stand on its own two feet.

When it comes to Faludi’s chapter on TV, I agree with her. It does appear from the television shoes that she sighted that most of them were based on families where the mother had no part or motive outside of the family (or possibly, she was non-existent). However, I do think this argument is now out of date. Almost twenty years later, the whole mantra of television has changed. The shows that are producing the highest ratings star female casts (Sex and the City, Grey’s Anatomy, The OC, Weeds, The Hills, That 70s Show, Friends, Lipstick Jungle, What I Like About You, Dirt, Will and Grace, etc.). I think this shows that times have changed. I do feel Faludi’s commentary is necessary, but it almost seems more nostalgia than current.