Read Female Chauvinist Pigs Online
Authors: Ariel Levy
Tags: #Politics & Social Sciences, #Social Sciences, #Gender Studies, #Feminist Theory, #Popular Culture, #Women's Studies
Selections from this chapter previously appeared in the article “Where the Bois Are,”
New York
magazine, January 12, 2004.
78
“a woman without a man”:
this sardonicism—which was put on bumper stickers, T-shirts, and buttons in the seventies—is usually attributed to Gloria Steinem. It was actually coined in 1970 by Irina Dunn, an Australian politician and journalist whose phrasing was “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,” a play on “Man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle.”
79
“Lesbianism is a women’s liberation plot”:
According to Susan Brownmiller’s account in
In Our Time,
the Radicalesbians shut off the lights at the Second Congress to Unite Women in May 1970, which was held at a school in Manhattan. When they turned the lights back on, members of their group wearing
LAVENDER MENACE
T-shirts were onstage and posters that proclaimed “
TAKE A LESBIAN TO LUNCH
” and “
WE ARE ALL LESBIANS
” lined the room.
80
The first installment of
The Furies: Ginny Berson and Charlotte Bunch,
The Furies,
January 1972.
81
“I never really wanted to grow up”:
Interview with Lissa Doty at the Lexington Club, San Francisco, September 19, 2003.
82
“I think non-monogamy is a part”:
Interview with Sienna, Brooklyn, New York, September 8, 2003.
83
“It’s just wild to me”:
Telephone interview with Deb Schwartz, October 10, 2003.
84
“I’m so against the whole butch-femme”:
Interview with Julien Rosskam, Brooklyn, New York, September 10, 2003.
85
“I’ve noticed a lot of different levels”:
e-mail from Ian sent on August 4, 2003. Our conversation in Brooklyn, New York, took place on August 23, 2003.
86
she had met “maybe thirty”:
I interviewed Sarah at my apartment in New York City on August 24, 2003.
87
On a warm fall night, Diana Cage:
I interviewed Diana Cage and her friends at the Lexington Club in San Francisco on September 18, 2003. I accompanied Gibson to Club Galia in San Francisco on September 19, 2003.
88
In December 2002:
Emma Stickgold, “Sexual Incident Reported on Silver Lake School Bus,”
Boston Globe,
March 26, 2004.
89
1999 in Talbot County:
Laura Sessions Stepp, “Parents Are Alarmed by an Unsettling New Fad in Middle Schools: Oral Sex,”
Washington Post,
July 8, 1999.
90
two thirteen-year-olds in Beaver County: The Oprah Winfrey Show,
Harpo Productions, Inc., March 25, 2004.
91
an eighth-grade girl at Horace Mann:
Daphne Merkin, “The Paris Hilton Effect,”
New York
magazine, May 10, 2004.
92
senior at Manhattan’s Trinity School:
I spoke with students from the New York City schools Trinity, Fieldston, Horace Mann, and Saint Ann’s in June 2004.
93
“I don’t care if a baby”:
Laura Sessions Stepp, “Playboy’s Bunny Hops Into Teens’ Closets: Sexist Symbol of ’60s Now a Hot Seller,”
Washington Post,
June 17, 2003.
94
“i love their style”:
e-mails from Jessica received August 6, 2004.
95
“Plus I have a really great schedule”:
Interview with David at the Royal Ground Coffee House & Art Gallery, Oakland, California, September 1, 2004.
96
“Definitely girls hook up”:
Interview with Anne at Jamba Juice, Oakland, California, September 6, 2004.
97
“always the biggest dork”:
Interview with Robin, Berkeley, California, September 7, 2004.
98
“in the many hundreds of studies”:
Deborah L. Tolman,
Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls Talk About Sexuality
(Harvard University Press, 2002).
99
“The majority of high school students”:
According to the CDC’s 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 60.5 percent of twelfth graders have had sexual intercourse.
100
Eighty percent of Americans:
Sexual Information and Education Clearinghouse of the United States.
101
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute:
Teenagers’ Sexual and Reproductive Health: Developed Countries, www.agi-usa.org/pubs/fb_teens.html.
102
“voluntary but unwanted”:
2003 National Survey of Adolescents and Young Adults: Sexual Health Knowledge, Attitudes and Experiences, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, www.kff.org/youthhivstds/3218-index.cfm.
103
The April 2005 issue:
“Harper’s Index,”
Harper’s
magazine, April 2005.
104
“This is not how women talk”:
Ann Coulter, reprinted in
How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)
(Crown Forum, 2004).
105
a feathery pair of mules:
“I Heart NY,”
Sexand the City,
Season 4, Episode 66.
106
Another episode was devoted:
“A Woman’s Right to Shoes,” Season 6, Episode 83.
107
“I don’t believe in the Republican party”:
“Politically Erect,” Season 3, Episode 32.
108
A do-gooder asked if Carrie:
“Attack of the Five Foot Ten Woman,” Season 3, Episode 33.
109
“should be on every woman’s night table”: The Oprah Winfrey Show,
Harpo Productions, Inc., September 22, 2004.
110
On the occasion of the thirtieth:
“Sex and What Women Want Now,” 92nd Street YMHA, New York, June 17, 2003.
111
“interviewed over three thousand women”:
Pearlstein was rounding up. The Center for the Advancement of Women commissioned the Princeton Survey Research Associates, Inc., who interviewed 2,329 women for their 2001 report “Progress and Perils: How Gender Issues Unite and Divide Women.”
112
“The fantasy of the porn star”:
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders,
Thinking XXX
(HBO Films, 2004).
113
between $8 billion and $15 billion:
Joshua Kurlantzick, “Strip Club’s Cover Charge Is Voter Registration Card,”
New York Times,
October 5, 2004.
114
presented to the American Psychological Association:
Abigail Zuger, “Many Prostitutes Suffer Combat Disorder, Study Finds,”
New York Times,
August 18, 1998.
115
“Pornography is a specific form”:
Melissa Farley, Preface,
Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress
(Haworth Maltreatment & Trauma Press, 2003).
116
“I literally have thoughts like”:
Interview with Annie at her home in Massachusetts, August 4, 2004.
117
“I hooked up with this guy in Vegas”:
Interview with Meg at the Standard Hotel, Los Angeles, February 16, 2002.
118
“The great thing about Miami”:
Interview with Lynn Frailey, Miami, April 11, 2003.
119
which was
already
illegal:
The gay marriage certificates issued in Massachusetts are not actually substantive, because they can’t offer crucial federal benefits like Social Security, parental rights, or inheritance protection, which we consider central to the institution of marriage.
120
In opinion polls:
According to Gallup polls in which people were asked “Would you favor or oppose a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman, thus barring marriages between gay or lesbian couples?” the percentage of respondents who answered in favor was 50 percent in July 2003, 53 percent in February 2004, and 50 percent in March 2004. In the November 2004 election, ballot measures banning same-sex marriage and/or civil unions passed overwhelmingly in eleven states.
First, thanks to Dan Conaway for making this book happen.
I would also like to thank my talented editor Liz Stein for believing in this book, my agent Lane Zachary for believing in me, and my fact checker Yael Kohen for believing in due diligence. Thanks to Nicole Kalian and Dominick Anfuso at Free Press for the great gift of their enthusiasm.
John Homans has been my friend and editor at
New York
magazine for eight years. We worked together on the article “Female Chauvinist Pigs” on which this book is based. He and Adam Moss, our editor-in-chief, were both gracious and supportive while I periodically disappeared to write this book. Working with them is deeply rewarding and, more often than not, a lot of fun.
Amanda Fortini and Susan Dominus shared their insights with me and helped me to think about things in new ways. My former professors Joel Pfister, Richard Slotkin, and Khachig Tololyan generously held my hand through the research and writing of the Uncle Tom section. I am also extremely grateful to the following people for their favors, ideas, and encouragement throughout this process: Jesse Blockton, Kristina Dechter, Michael Goff, Isabel Gonzalez, Dee Dee Gordon, Vanessa Grigoriadis, Matt Hyams, Meredith Kahn, David Klagsbrun, Erika Malm, Craig Marks, Caroline Miller, Emily Nussbaum, Maer Roshan, René Steinke, Ahna Tessler, Jennie Thompson, Jennifer Wachtell, and Elisa Zonana. Special thanks to Emma Jemima Jacobson-Sive for a decade and counting of friendship and inspiration, and to M, whose talents as a writer and editor are exceeded only by his talents as a matchmaker.
Finally, thanks to Amy Norquist, for everything.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abortion
Abstinence-only sex education
Abzug, Bella
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)
ACT UP
Acuff, Amy
Adolescent Family Life Act
Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape
(Brownmiller)
Aguilera, Christina
Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI)
Albright, Madeleine
Alexander, Dolores
Amateur sex tapes
American Psychological Association
Anderson, Pamela
Apprentice, The
(television show)
Arden, Alex
Athletes
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Ayers, Bill
Bachelor, The
(television show)
Bailey, Fenton
Baldwin, James
Banff Television Festival
Banned from Television
Barbato, Randy
Barbie dolls
Baumgardner, Jennifer
Beard, Amanda
Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Behrendt, Greg
Big Life (in Advertising), A
(Wells Lawrence)
Bild Lilli
Bird, Caroline
Birth control pill
Bishop, John
Blanchard, Keith
B’lo, Manhattan
Bois
Born Female: The High Cost of Keeping Women Down
(Bird)
Bra-burning
Braniff Airlines
Bravo, Jack
Brazile, Donna
Breast implants
Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame
Brokaw, Tom
Brown, Tina
Brownmiller, Susan
Bruce, Lenny
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(television show)
Bunny logo
“Bunny’s Tale, A” (Steinem)
Bunny Years, The
(Scott)
Bush, George W.
Bushnell, Candace
Butch flight
Byrd, Robin
Cafferty, Jennifer
Cage, Diana
CAKE
Cardio Striptease classes
Carmichael, Stokely
Carolla, Adam
Carrilero, Pierre
Carter, John Mack
Carter, Nick
Cattrall, Kim
Ceballos, Jacqui
Center for the Advancement of Women
Centers for Disease Control
Charlie’s Angels
(film)
Charlie’s Angels
(television show)
Cheap Thrills
(album)
Childhood sexual abuse
Chisholm, Shirley
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil rights movement
Civil War
Clark, Haley
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, Hillary
Clitoris
Clothing
Club Galia, San Francisco
College education
Collins, Joan
Columbia University
Comedy Central
Committee of 200
Confessions of an Heiress
(Hilton)
Consciousness-raising groups
Contraception
Cope, Debbie
Costa, Jeff
Coulter, Ann
Couric, Katie
Cowan, Peggy
Craig’s List
Crain’s
Crumb, Robert
Crunch gyms
“Dear Bill and Hillary” (Dworkin)
Desire, sexual
Desperate Housewives
(television show)
Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl
(Quan)
Dick Cavett Show
Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls Talk About Sexuality
(Tolman)
Dirrty
(video)
Divorce rate
Doe v. Bolton
(1970)
Doherty, Shannon
Doonan, Simon
Doty, Lissa
Dubrow, Terry
Dworkin, Andrea
Dyke TV
Eagle, San Francisco
Egalitarianism
Eisenberg, Erin
Eisenberg, Shaina
Eisenstadt v. Baird
(1972)
Electra, Carmen
Elle
magazine
Emancipation Proclamation
Emily’s List
Eminem
Entertainment industry, women in top positions in
Equal Pay Act of 1963
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
Esquire
magazine
Evangelical Christianity
Everett, Rupert
“Everybody’s Protest Novel” (Baldwin)
Fallaci, Oriana
Fanshen
(Hinton)
Fantasies
Farley, Melissa
Fashion shows
Fear of Flying
(Jong)
Fed-Up Queers
Female Chauvinist Pig (FCP)
Feminine Mystique, The
(Friedan)
Femininity
(Brownmiller)
Feminism
Feminist Party
FHM (For Him Magazine)
Fieldston School, New York City
Fluffer
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Frailey, Lynn
Francis, Joe
Freud, Sigmund
Friday, Nancy
Friedan, Betty
Friends
(television show)
Friendster
FTMs (female-to-male transsexuals)
Furies, The
Furnas, J. C.
Gallagher, Melinda
Gallup poll (2001)
Gay marriage
Gerlach, Carrie
Ginsburg, Ruth Bader
Girls Gone Wild
Girly-girls
Gitlin, Todd
Golddiggers
Grabowski, Marilyn
Gray, Macy
Green, Sam
Greenfield-Sanders, Timothy
Grigoriadis, Vanessa
G-String Divas
(television show)
Haley, Alex
Hardwick, Elizabeth
Harper’s
magazine
Harry, Debbie
Harvard University
Havard, Linda
HBO (Home Box Office)
Head-Royce School, Oakland
Hefner, Christie
Hefner, Hugh
Heftler, Jennifer
Henderson, Mary C.
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
He’s Just Not That Into You
(Behrendt)
Hilton, Paris
Hilton Hotels
Hinton, William
Hite, Shere
Hite Report, The: A Nationwide Study of Female Sexuality
(Hite)
HIV-AIDS
Horace Mann School, New York City
Horn, Bill
Hotness
Houston
Howard Stern
(television show)
How to Make Love Like a Porn Star
(Jameson)
Hudnut, William
“In Bed with Fairy Butch,”
Incest
Indianapolis, Indiana
In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution
(Brownmiller)
Intercourse
(Dworkin)
International Documentary Association
Jackson, Janet
Jameson, Jenna
Jennings, Peter
Jive Records
Joe Millionaire
(television show)
John, Elton
Johnson, Betsey
Jones, Grace
Jong, Erica
Joplin, Janis
Juggies
Kellison, Daniel
Kennedy, Flo
Kerouac, Jack
Kimmel, Jimmy
King, Larry
King, Michael Patrick
Kingston, Massachusetts 1450
Klum, Heidi
Koedt, Anne
Koppel, Ted
Korn
Kramer, Emily
Ladies’ Home Journal
Lad Mag
La Guardia, Fiorello
La Motta, Vicky
Lap dancing
Lauer, Matt
Law & Order
(television show)
Leist, Mia
Leno, Jay
Lesbianism
Lexington Club, San Francisco
Life of Luxury
(television show)
Lifetime Intimate Portrait
(television show)
Lincoln, Abraham
Lindsay, John
Lisa Marie
Live-Journal
Loophole woman
Lorde, Audre
Lords, Traci
Lotney, Karlyn
MacKinnon, Catharine
Madonna
Magazine industry
Malcolm X
Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future
(Baumgardner and Richards)
Man Show, The
(television show)
Mao Tse-tung
March for Women’s Lives (2004)
Marriott Hotels
Martin, Dean
Mary Boone Gallery, New York City
Mary Tyler Moore Show, The
(television show)
Maxim
magazine
McCarthy, Mary
Means, Cyril
Meow Mix, Manhattan
Millay, Edna St. Vincent
Miller, Earl
Millet, Kate
Mirabella
magazine
Miss America Pageant
Missionary position intercourse
Moorcock, Michael
Moore, Mary Tyler
Morgan, Robin
Moss, Kate
Mother Courage restaurant New York City
Movie industry
My Secret Garden
(Friday)
“Myth of Vaginal Orgasm, The” (Koedt)
National Abortion Rights Action League
National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL)
National Foundation for Jewish Culture
National Organization for Women (NOW)
Nerve.com
Nevins, Sheila
New Left
Newmark, Craig
New Yorker, The
New York Radical Women
New York Times
New York Times Magazine
New York Women in Film & Television
Nixon, Richard
Notes from the First Year
(New York Radical Women)
Olympic athletes
On Our Backs
magazine
Oral sex