The Susan Faludi Reading

After a very interesting class discussion over Corbin's question of Susan Faludi's book, Terror Dream (http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Dream-Fantasy-Post-9-America/dp/0805086927), I felt I should share my opinion on her work as a whole.

Susan Faludi does a good job out outline her concept of a specific kind of master narrative, namely, the idea of a regression of social gender equality back into a more masculine status quo. This is a legitimate argument. However, I feel the book as a whole could have presented the argument in a much more efficient fashion. The vast majority of the book relies on anecdotal evidence. On one side, this is a good way of presenting evidence for this argument because much of what shapes society is the spread of stories and images. On the other hand, I found her point hopelessly without variation throughout the book. The best writing that I have read which defended a belief examined various facets of an argument. In Terror Dream, I am hard pressed to find arguments that would defend from attacks from opposing interpretations of world events. Corbin gave the example of the metrosexual movement. Yes, this may be another master narrative, but society is not simply the coexistence of different social movements. These movements play off of each other, and doubtless that the series of events described by Faludi are greatly influenced by other social movements. I personally see history as a combination of progressive and regressive periods, with the overall result being progress. Faludi's message is that women have been portrayed as victims and men as heroes in order to rally a nation to war. I see her book as part of a separate master narrative that reinforces the notion of the recent periodicity of social conflict and inequalities within societies. This book is part of a gathering force, like the growing resistance to the Iraq war and all of the ideals that come with it according to Faludi's book, that will rectify the scale of society.