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A review by alisarae
The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America by Susan Faludi
5.0
"When we respond to real threats to our nation by distracting ourselves with imagined threats to femininity and family life ... when we blame our frailty on fifth-column feminists, in short, when we base our security on a mythical male strength that can only measure itself against a mythical female weakness, we should know that we are exhibiting the symptoms of a lethal, albeit curable, cultural affliction. Our reflexive reaction to 9/11, fantastical weirdly disconnected from the very real emergency at hand, exposed a counterfeit belief system. It reprised a bogus security drill that divided men from women and mobilized them to the defense of a myth instead of to the defense of a country."
Going into this book, I thought it would be more widely about broader cultural shifts post-9/11, but actually it's about a very specific reflexive return to delicate femininity and brawny manliness spearheaded by mainstream media that happened immediately, as in hours, after the attacks on the Twin Towers.
It sounds bizarre, but Faludi brings receipts. The first 75% of the book is quote after quote after quote from articles, talk shows, news reports, blogs, and broadcasts about women getting the marriage itch, a coming baby boom, women "opting out" of the workplace to prioritize family, stories of rescued women, etc etc that is in nearly all cases wildly stretched, isolated incidents, anonymous sources, or completely fabricated, against protests from the quite real women at the heart of the stories. It is, in short, shocking.
The last 25% of the book is a look back at different periods in American history where the same narrative structure (strong man rescues weak woman) came up, again with receipts that scrape away the layers of myth: King George's War (which I know as the French-Indian War), Westward Expansion, early 20th Century (iconized with Birth of a Nation), and the Cold War era.
Faludi did not touch on contemporary religion at all, and I would have liked to see that element included. I suppose that would be an entire book in itself. American Christianity is such a fundamental pillar to upholding these mythical structures, and it is sad how many well-meaning acquaintances of mine don't even realize when they are defending an idol.
Going into this book, I thought it would be more widely about broader cultural shifts post-9/11, but actually it's about a very specific reflexive return to delicate femininity and brawny manliness spearheaded by mainstream media that happened immediately, as in hours, after the attacks on the Twin Towers.
It sounds bizarre, but Faludi brings receipts. The first 75% of the book is quote after quote after quote from articles, talk shows, news reports, blogs, and broadcasts about women getting the marriage itch, a coming baby boom, women "opting out" of the workplace to prioritize family, stories of rescued women, etc etc that is in nearly all cases wildly stretched, isolated incidents, anonymous sources, or completely fabricated, against protests from the quite real women at the heart of the stories. It is, in short, shocking.
The last 25% of the book is a look back at different periods in American history where the same narrative structure (strong man rescues weak woman) came up, again with receipts that scrape away the layers of myth: King George's War (which I know as the French-Indian War), Westward Expansion, early 20th Century (iconized with Birth of a Nation), and the Cold War era.
Faludi did not touch on contemporary religion at all, and I would have liked to see that element included. I suppose that would be an entire book in itself. American Christianity is such a fundamental pillar to upholding these mythical structures, and it is sad how many well-meaning acquaintances of mine don't even realize when they are defending an idol.