Some say that ’70s feminism began its fall from grace in 1986 when a study claimed that a woman’s chances of marrying sometime in her life drops to 5 percent after she passes her 35th birthday. The notion that so many nominally liberated women found this conclusion distressing gave rise to the cynical belief that reconfiguring a woman’s place in society is fine as long as she isn’t required to give up that ring.
This has led to what in the latter half of the ’90s has been termed “Duh Feminism,” which takes in Ally McBeal, “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and the multifaceted martyrdom of Monica Lewinsky. For a time in the 1980s, Cosmopolitan and Glamour reluctantly boosted job hunting over man hunting, but they’ve recently returned in full glory to the three topics they’ve always liked best: sex, sex and sex (not necessarily in that order). And with titles like “10 Make-Him-Throb Moves So Hot You’ll Need a Firehose to Cool Down the Bed” (from January’s Cosmo), it’s obvious who that sex is for.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.