Letters: Jul. 20, 1998

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IS FEMINISM DEAD?

Your cover story "Is Feminism Dead?" was more about pop culture than about feminism [SOCIETY, June 29]. You have marginalized those who care about feminist issues, such as pay equity and the glass ceiling, implying they are an "elitist" group with little connection to mainstream women and their aspirations. You missed analyzing one of the most significant developments of our century, the progress of women into nontraditional roles and their emergence as a major economic and political force. Nor did you address the persistent inequities that remain. Perhaps only when women are better represented in the boardrooms and upper management of media conglomerates can we expect to see our agenda and our advocates covered seriously and with respect. GAIL S. SHAFFER, Executive Director Business and Professional Women/USA Washington

Your report was right on. For me, lately, graduate school has become more about lip liners and short skirts than education and intelligence. Although I will probably continue to watch Ally McBeal, you made me stop and think. KATIE OSTLER Boston

You old buzzards are so out of touch! Feminists are everywhere; you've just got to take your blinders off. ERIN MALIK Sebastopol, Calif.

In today's society, a powerful and assertive woman is often labeled a feminist. However, your poll shows that less than 30% of women today consider themselves feminists. The term feminist, it appears, is almost regarded as an insult, reserved for women who want to conquer the world and all its men. But a woman's success is seldom a point she wants to "rub in" to members of the opposite sex. She may wish to be viewed as an individual, not as a representative of her gender. Sadly, our society is one that cannot differentiate between someone's proving a point as a woman and proving herself as a person. LAUREN RUTLEDGE, age 16 Okemos, Mich.

If feminism was able to survive the dramatic backlash of the 1970s, it will surely survive the '90s. SOMA RAY Princeton Junction, N.J.

In the '60s, the women's movement was too strident and humorless, and now it's too sexy and self-centered. The ultimate goal of feminism is a world in which women can choose what to do and be. The most damage to feminism comes not from the media but from individual women who overlook the need to continue to bond and support one another in every aspect of their lives. BETH LERCH Los Angeles

I am not a good spokesperson for the feminist movement, nor have I ever aspired to be. I have been attacked in the pages of your magazine both for being an antifeminist and for not being effective enough as a young feminist leader. Which is it? It seems to me a sad state of affairs when every young woman who writes about culture is judged on whether she is a "good feminist." Women should be judged for the individual voices we are, not for whether we conform to an outdated vision of what a good feminist is. It is a sign that feminism has not died, but rather has succeeded to an amazing extent, that young female critics don't have to be as single-minded or rigid as Gloria Steinem or Germaine Greer. Today we can express as divergent views and attitudes, with as varied points of view, and opinions and obsessions and styles, as our male counterparts. KATIE ROIPHE New York City