Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the 21st Century [Paperback]

Wendy McElroy (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 2002

The contributors to this important new collection offer a vision of contemporary feminism that runs counter to and goes beyond the dominant attitudes of the feminist orthodoxy. Basing their arguments on individual rights and personal responsibility, the contributors to Liberty for Women offer surprising views on a wide range of issues that confront modern women: self-defense, sexual freedom, reproduction, economic well-being, the promise of technology, and the place of traditional values, including the family. This new feminism, for example, asserts the right of gun ownership, champions the free market as the best hope for women’s prosperity, defends abortion rights, and values traditions. It sees choice as the key for all women, from housewives to CEOs, from prostitutes to mothers. The contributors include Camille Paglia, Norma Jean Almodovar, Matthew Y. Biscan, Lois Copeland, Janis Cortese, Richard A. Epstein, Faith Gibson, Mimi Gladstein, Wendy McElroy, Martha C. Nussbaum, Ellen Frankel Paul, Rita J. Simon, Richard W. Stevens, Nadine Strossen, Alexander Tabarrok, Hugo Tuefel III, and Cathy Young. Liberty for Women is an eye-opening collection that is certain to challenge, annoy, and entertain. Published in association with The Independent Institute.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book's comprehensiveness and accessibility leave no excuse for perpetuation of this gross curricular oversight...outstanding and controversial. (Susan Sarnoff )

Brilliant...with verve and daring explorations. (Judith S. Kleinfeld )

All women share a love of liberty...all should have the courage to embrace this book. (Kaminer, Wendy )

A matchless book on the most important issues facing women now and in the future (Sommers, Christina Hoff )

A must-read for anyone interested in issues of equality and sexual politics. (Christie Hefner )

Lively and provocative...Liberty for Women adds immensely to the debate on the role of women in contemporary life. (Linda L. Chavez )

A superb and stunning assemblage of clear-eyed feminist thinkers. (Satel, Sally W. H. Brady Fellow, American Enterprise Institute )

A marvelous, incisive, and much-needed book...intelligent and challenging. (Daphne Patai )

Offers just the sort of intellectual barbs so sorely needed to jolt a near corpse back into life. (Alexander Cockburn )

About the Author

Wendy McElroy is a Fox News columnist and editor of www.ifeminists.com. Her books include Freedom, Feminism, and the State. She lives in Collingwood, Ontario.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (February 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566634342
• ISBN-13: 978-1566634342
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feminism with a future, July 17, 2002

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the 21st Century (Hardcover)

Editor Wendy McElroy is one of the leading lights of 'ifeminism' (a term she coined) -- feminism with an individualist, libertarian emphasis, as opposed to the collectivist, group-rights orientation of more traditional, left-leaning feminism. In place of the tired old orthodoxies of today's victim-feminism, the provocative, insightful, and energetic essays collected here reveal a feminism fit for the twenty-first century.

I admire Wendy McElroy a lot, and so particularly looked forward to her contributions to this collection. But the other writers she assembled are also quite good. I especially enjoyed the first three chapters, in which McElroy, Camille Paglia, and Richard Epstein lay the foundations of ifeminism. From there, different sections address ifeminism as it relates to sex, work, the home, violence and victim disarmament (aka 'gun control') and, finally, technology. Of the issue-oriented sections, this last one was particularly good. I especially appreciated Janis Cortese's 'The Third WWWave: Who We Are, What We See' -- a defiant, even angry, call to 'second generation' feminists to take this new, rising tide of ifeminists seriously.

Much of what you'll read here runs counter to received feminist wisdom: it's pro-market, pro-gun, anti-'comparable worth,' and profoundly skeptical about the evolution of sexual harassment law. It's pro-choice, but doesn't consider abortion a sacrament, as much of traditional feminism seems to. To borrow a too-often-paraphrased TV ad, this is not your mother's feminism.

Regardless of whether you're male or female, how you define feminism, or what your opinions of it may be, Wendy McElroy and her fellow contributors have outlined a new vision of feminism. It may well change the terms of debate entirely. Let's hope so.