When The Enemy Has No

For Some High-profile Men In Trouble, Women, Especially Feminist Women, Became The All-purpose Scapegoats-charged With Crimes That Often Descended Into The Absurd.

The Last Decade Has Seen A Powerful Counterassault On Women's Rights, A Backlash, An Attempt To Retract The Handful Of Small And Hard-won Victories That The Feminist Movement Did Manage To Win For Women. This Counterassault Is Largely Insidious: In A Kind Of Pop-culture Version Of The Big Lie, It Stands The Truth Boldly On Its Head And Proclaims That The Very Steps That Have Elevated Women's Position Have Actually Led To Their Downfall.

Feminism's Agenda Is Basic: It Asks That Women Not Be Forced To "choose" Between Public Justice And Private Happiness. It Asks That Women Be Free To Define Themselves-instead Of Having Their Identity Defined For Them, Time And Again, By Their Culture And Their Men.

Keeping The Peace With The Particular Man In One's Life Becomes More Essential Than Battling The Mass Male Culture.

We Think Of A Feminist As Someone A Woman Becomes In Reaction To Personal Indignities And Social Injustices. But The Truth Is, Such Inequities Only Awaken Her To The Feminist She Has Always Fundamentally Been - That Is, A Person Who Understands That Her First Responsibility Is To Her Own Humanity. That's Why, For My Money, The First Known Use Of The Word 'feminist' Is Still The Best, Appearing In An 1895 Book Review: A Woman Who 'has In Her The Capacity Of Fighting Her Way Back To Independence.