Dowd, Where's My Country?

Almost two weeks ago, the New York Times Sunday magazine published an excerpt from op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd's new book, Are Men Necessary?. The excerpt itself was a long-winded lament over the current state of gender relations amongst a very specific group of people -- Dowd, her best friends and the powerful men they date. It contained a slew of complaints which you've probably heard before if you watch Sex and the City or spend a lot of time hanging out with movie stars, senators and CEOs: men like 'em young and adoring; smart women are intimidating; if you win a Pulitzer you'll never catch a husband; Botox and boob jobs are everywhere; and good lord, what is up with Jessica Simpson?

Media justice was swift and severe. The female blogosphere played slice and dice with Dowd's easy assertions (a particularly choice slam, from Wonkette's married and, arguably, rather successful Ana Marie Cox: "Thank God we aren't as smart as she is or else we'd never have found a husband") and the comments sections of any blog that dared mention her name buzzed with the raised hackles of men and women (but mostly women) who bristled at Dowd's apparent inability to see beyond her own very narrow world.

It seemed that the title should really have been: "Are Rich And Powerful Men Necessary To Rich And Powerful Women?" To which the only appropriate answer, for anyone outside Dowd's narrow niche is, who cares?

Still, there was some hope that the book itself would have more to offer. By lifting her title from James Thurber's humorous book, Is Sex Necessary? there is no doubt that she was trying be controversial; that she was trying to be funny; and that as a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist and at times delightfully sharp-edged observer of the personalities behind scandals dating as far back as the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings, she is in a position to tell us something meaningful about the way gender relations play out today.

Dowd herself says that people shouldn't take her so seriously. Defending the book, which was finally released on Tuesday, she told Newsweek, "I am not trying to write a social polemic, just tell a funny story about my own experience."

Nice try. If Dowd had made good on this claim, Are Men Necessary? could have been wonderful. Both professionally and personally, she travels in circles most of us do not have access to, and since the folks in those circles happen to control the country, we need to understand how they think. And there are certainly thought-provoking passages here: an awkward encounter with Monica Lewinsky after having lambasted her in print several times over; enduring a humiliating pass while applying for a job; her confusion in Saudi Arabia when she found herself meekly giving in to the order that she stop and cover herself immediately. In that same scene she describes Christiane Amanpour wiping the floor with two Saudi Arabian men who are trying to move her to another side of the cafeteria; it's a moment almost worth the price of purchase.

But all disclaimers to the contrary, Dowd is doing much more than just describing her personal experience. Both in the narrative and on the back-flap copy, she describes herself as "a fascinated observer of our gender perplexities," dedicated to exploring the "spectacle of gender in America." There is an intended social polemic at work here; she believes she has something to say that will be relevant to all of us, otherwise, who would buy the book? Yet "we" includes only her people, and her observations are based on her fascination with her own universe: the aforementioned glossy magazine editors, movie stars and political aides.

And by addressing weightier issues, notably the condition of women in the Arab world and sexual harassment in the workplace, this only makes the claim that she's "just making observations" even more disingenuous. Dowd extrapolates from these concerns to a much more ambitious project -- the death of the women's movement. In this so-called non-polemic, she accuses Hillary Clinton of killing feminism, suggests that if Gloria Steinem could have predicted the future she'd never have burned a bra to begin with, and says today's women would rather be wives than workers.