Pollitt has an Op-Ed in today’s NYT called “Thank You for Hating My Book.”
An interview by Jessica Valenti of Feministing called “Strident” and Proud is available here. Unfortunately, it is at Salon, so if you are not a Salon subscriber you may have to watch an advertisement to access it. I had to watch a commercial for “Project Runway.” Blech. Anyway, below is a short excerpt:
Valenti: Ana Marie Cox’s review of your new collection in the New York Times Book Review riled a lot of people by using the words “strident” and “tacky” to describe feminism. What was your reaction to the piece?
Pollitt: You know, to tell you the truth, I didn’t study the review closely — because I’d like to maintain my cheerful disposition! But I think a review that begins “strident feminism” is pretty much declaring that we are in the land of backlash cliché. If you read my book you’ll see that I support sexual freedom, I support freedom of speech, I’m not a family-values person at all, and I am not the sort of the Dworkinite fuddy-duddy of Cox’s imagination. I think the resentment that some younger women feel — and I don’t know how old Wonkette is, or how old she presents herself — toward older feminists is very interesting. I don’t quite understand it except as kind of a kill-the-mother thing. What is this “girls just want to have fun” feminism? It’s a very shallow approach to life. And I can’t think of another social movement where “strident” is a bad word.
