Book Worm
Yes, I am a regular book worm. I'm a bookseller ferchrissake! Not that my place of employment even requires booksellers to be literate. But personally, I feel I should at least know what I'm talking about when I sell a book. "It's really good" doesn't cut it for me. So what have I read lately? I finally took three weeks of my life to read Susan Faludi's Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man (Morrow). Quite the marathon reading 608 pages), Stiffed left me thinking about my Y-chromosomed counterparts in quite a different way. I must admit I was a little scared that Faludi had succumbed to the new "post-feminist" school of thought that seeks to heal men from female oppression. But after I began reading I realized this woman is an old-school, bonafide feminist. Faludi's argument states that a men's movement needed to take place along with the feminist movement (which most of us agree with) to ensure real liberation from gender encroachment. The woman, who incidentally writes with some swinging passion, takes the reader through a voyage in search of the proverbial Heart of the Matter in what has been called by others as the male crisis in America. She interviews members of the Spur Posse, militia men, Promise Keepers, porn "stars" and the editors of the new mens' interest magazines. Faludi stresses the dehumanizing consequences of consumer culture and the shift in advertising strategies to incorporate men into the ornamental culture of capitalism as avid consumers. She also deals with celebrityhood and the strive of men to achieve a position of notoriety through violence, otherwise known as America's national sport. I won't spoil this read for you any further. If you can manage to committ to 600 pages, you in for an eye-opening treat.
01/20/00