Brave Dames and Wimpettes

LIBRARY OF CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT This exciting series tackles today's most provocative. fascinating, and relevant issues, giving top opinion makers a forum to explore topic that matter urgently to themselves and their readers. Some will be think pieces. Some will be research oriented. Some will be journalistic in nature. The form is wide open, but the aim is the same: to say things that need saying. "Our media-our journalism, our art-abound with wounded women. We seem to have lost our sturdy immigrant past, forgotten that we once had strong and gallant women heroes like Willa Cather's My Antonia. We are descendants of brave dames like these, not a nation of weaklings. . . A damsel in-distress, movie-of-the-week mentality has infected our film and fiction. Despite the most recent revolution in women's rights, we are still being portrayed as the gender of the quivering lower lip. . . " FROM BRAVE DAMES AND WIMPETTES. In this thoroughly witty, incisive look at the role of women on screen and page, Susan Isaacs argues that assertive, ethical women characters are losing ground to wounded, shallow sisters who are driven by what she calls the articles of wimpette philosophy. (Article Eight: A wimpette looks to a man to give her an identity. )