How does one define “Feminism in the Age of Dubya?” It was many months ago, “when a George W. Bush Presidency was barely more than a gleam in Chief Justice Rehnquist’s eye,” that feminist writer Katha Pollitt, known for her provocative column in The Nation, chose her title for the Jane Pollack Memorial Lecture, which was sponsored by Penn’s Women’s Studies Program and held on April 4. In that talk, she described how the September 11 terrorist attacks had changed many things, including public—and news-media—attitudes:
“War always sees a resurgence of patriarchal values. Heroic firefighters and police officers involved in the World Trade Center rescue efforts, many of them at the cost of their lives, can serve as emblems, heralding the return of manliness as physical strength and courage, toughness, resolve and protection of the police.
“Peggy Noonan and Maureen Dowd have written columns that I know will embarrass them [later] all about being weak-kneed at these wonderful men, these hunks. Oh isn’t it great to be so protected by a man. I wish I was married to a man like that. On and on.
“Although Condoleeza Rice was prominently on display, for the most part, as always, the war is being won and war policy being made by men, who control the Army, the White House, and Congress. The vast majority of public voices discussing war in the media are tenors, baritones, and basses.”