The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism [Paperback]

Katie Roiphe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 1994

When Katie Roiphe arrived at Harvard in the fall of 1986, she found that the feminism she had been raised to believe in had been radically transformed. The women's movement, which had once signaled such strength and courage, now seemed lodged in a foundation of weakness and fear. At Harvard, and later as a graduate student at Princeton, Roiphe saw a thoroughly new phenomenon taking shape on campus: the emergence of a culture captivated by victimization, and of a new bedroom politics in the university, cloaked in outdated assumptions about the way men and women experience sex. Men were the silencers and women the silenced, and if anyone thought differently no one was saying so. Twenty-four-year-old Katie Roiphe is the first of her generation to speak out publicly against the intolerant turn the women's movement has taken, and in The Morning After she casts a critical eye on what she calls the mating rituals of a rape-sensitive community. From Take Back the Night marches (which Roiphe terms "march as therapy",and "rhapsodies of self-affirmation") to rape-crisis feminists and the growing campus concern with sexual harassment, Roiphe shows us a generation of women whose values are strikingly similar to those their mothers and grandmothers fought so hard to escape from - a generation yearning for regulation, fearful of its sexuality, and animated by a nostalgia for days of greater social control. At once a fierce excoriation of establishment feminism and a passionate call to our best instincts, The Morning After sounds a necessary alarm and entreats women of all ages to take stock of where they came from and where they want to go.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (September 7, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316754323
• ISBN-13: 978-0316754323
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Balance mediates everything in your life..., January 14, 2000

By 

"sarah_elizabeth" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism (Paperback)

Not that anyone could call Katie Roiphe "balanced"...her debut, written while still in college, reads like a long talk with a loquatious new aquaintence at the campus coffee bar. She is not a sophisticated writer, and this book has no research to support it, really. And yes, it can be damn insensitive to people who have experienced sexual trauma.

However, it also bring up some very commonsense point which makes you wonder -- "Why has no one else thought of this?" Perhaps the key is Roiphe's writing style, which caught the attention of critics, because people have been worrying about the perpetuation of "victim mentality" with women for a while.

Roiphe explores the issues that she encountered at her insular, Ivy League college, which makes those experiences privleged ones. However, the same issues of which she speaks are prevalent at colleges around the country, an inherently privleged environment, but not unimportant to the rest of society. (Though, if there's one thing Roiphe is most guilty of, it has to be classism, which I chalk up to her age, her life experience, and her affluence. Her complete tunnel vision cripples the book significantly.)

But Roiphe gives voice to the ostracized in the mainstream feminist movement, and she articulates that alienation well. Sure, she believes that women should get equal pay for equal work, she knows about the glass ceiling, and she is aware & horrified by sex crimes. But she also feels like she can overcome those obstacles without placing herself in the role of victim of sexism. And she likes nail polish and reads fashion magazines too, probably. She wants to join the feminism club, but she feels that she can't.

She also voices the very funny politics of college sex life, where consentual sex is...well, ambiguous. (Which is, I think, one of her most interesting points, and it has spurred many a chat between my circle of friends.)

Now, I know that her stance of sexual assault is one of her most controversial, but I don;t think she is trying to play denial. She just argues for a better vocabulary of terms, and thinks that every construction worker whistling at you does not constitute harassment. And that's one of the big rifts between Roiphe and her early 90's feminist adversaries.

Like my feelings about Camille Paglia, I think Roiphe raises interesting issues, and I think she is worth reading. While her personal experiences do not enlighten the world, they are telling of what kind of experience is happening in our Ivory Towers of education. And her voice, as a dissenter, shouldn't be given automatic short shrift just for not agreeing with the Faludi party line of the era. (Although, on a side note -- Susan Faludi, what happened? Ugh, "Stiffed"? )

To be a balanced feminist on either side, peruse this short and surprisingly entertaining text. I guarantee, it will force you into some opinions, either way.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading for balanced insight, September 22, 1999

By 

David C. Vaughan (Leonardtown, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism (Paperback)

Contrary to many reviews of this book I have read, it does not pretend from the outset to be anything more than a narrative of experience and opinion. While framing certain discussions in factual analysis, for the most part Roiphe presents a personal discussion of the date rape/sexual harrassment "crisis". I suppose it behooves me to point out I'm a man and do not possess the special knowledge or training to understand the real impact of her words, but it would appear that arguments against the book are arguments against personal understanding. The irony is that Roiphe makes this specific point. Not as intellectually sound nor as scholarly as Christina Hoff Summers' books, it doesn't aspire to be. Roiphe asks questions of herself and her readers not through ideology but through experience and the idea that there is a base reality of existence. Anyone who is interested in the debate of new feminism and its impact on classic feminism should read this book. Of course, ideology may prevent some from getting past the assumption that there is power in discussion.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's Worth a Read, March 11, 2005

By 

S. Kim "Unsolicited Opinions" (Queens, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism (Paperback)

Even though there is no formal research behind this book, I feel that it would be worthwhile to examine Roiphe's argument more in depth. Roiphe argues that many aspects of modern feminism infantalizes women thereby stripping them of their hard-won autonomy and power. She also argues for a more pluralistic definition of feminism.
This is a very thought-provoking book, but it does have drawbacks. I believe that Roiphe wrote this when she was a young grad student; although one can argue that she writes ith an extraordinary amount of confidence, for many, her writing may seem cocky, which can irritate the readers at times, especially since she is making provocative arguments with little support. She also has a tendency to draw her arguments from literature, which may be best left in a literature critcism class. Nevertheless, I suppose we may forgive her for such weaknesses as she does admit that this is a book of her personal observations without any scientific research.
There are times when one feels that the book is complete conjecture due to the lack of academic research behind this book, but that also makes it more accessible. You will either agree with this book or view it as some young student's attempt to gain attention, but it's worth a read and deeper analysis of some of her arguments.