The Return of the Wolf
Naomi Wolf is the Monica Lewinsky of the book trade. When anyone mentions her name, those within earshot who are literate close their eyes, reopen them, shake their heads, and then roll their eyes.
The Wolf-woman burst on the scene in 1992 with The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women, not long after completing a Rhodes Scholarship at New College, Oxford. It purported to be a feminist tract exposing “an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society's impossible definition of ‘the flawless beauty.’” On the back of the dust jacket was a photograph of the thirty-year-old author dressed to the nines, greeting the reader with a “come-hither” look. Right then you knew that the book was nothing more than a vehicle for drawing attention to the comeliness of its author.
Subsequent volumes – including Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood and Misconceptions: Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood– were autobiographical to an ever-increasing degree and increasingly embarrassing to boot. The former represented itself as a “provocative and highly personal book,” in which the author “explores a subject that has long been taboo in our society: women's sexual coming-of-age.” We were told that this path-breaking work
brazenly exposes the truths behind the conflicting messages directed at young women during and after the sexual revolution. Drawing on surprising examples from the ancient and recent past, along with vivid recollections of her own youth, Wolf shows how our "liberated" culture still fears and distorts female passion. She also shares fascinating true stories that illustrate the fantasies and sometimes crippling realities women pass through on their way toward erotic and emotional discovery. A landmark book, Promiscuities is a call to women of all ages to reclaim and celebrate their sexuality.
And in the book, of course, we learned rather more about the sex life of a confused and narcissistic young woman than anyone sane would really want to know.
The latter of the two books was more of the same, for, in it, we were informed, the Wolf-woman
demythologizes motherhood and reveals the dangers of common assumptions about childbirth. With uncompromising honesty she describes how hormones eroded her sense of independence, ultrasounds tested her commitment to abortion rights, and the keepers of the OB/GYN establishment lacked compassion. The weeks after her first daughter’s birth taught her how society, employers, and even husbands can manipulate new mothers. She had bewildering post partum depression, but learned that a surprisingly high.percentage of women experience it.
I trust that you get the idea. Self-dramatization is Naomi Wolf’s forte. It is pretty much the only art that she has mastered.
But these three works were just the beginning. For the Wolf-woman is now fifty and getting long in the tooth; and, not to be outdone by other, younger, more svelte self-promoters, she has just published her magnum opus Vagina: A New Biography, and it, too, is largely autobiography – for, if there is anything that Naomi Wolf is interested in, it is Naomi Wolf.
I would discuss this book in detail here on Ricochet but I am not sure that I could do so while observing the Code of Conduct. So I will refer you to the review that Florence King has published in the 1 October issue of National Review, which is blessedly already available online. I could, in any case, not hope to bring to the book’s discussion the verve and vinegar applied by the estimable Ms. King. The one thing that I can assure you of is this. You will enjoy her review of the book a whole lot more than you would enjoy reading the volume itself – which brings me to a question that puzzles me no end.
Naomi Wolf hopes to gain attention and earn money by pushing a volume focused on exposing what, in bygone days, we used to think of as her private parts. Her publisher HarperCollins, which was once thought of as a respectable press, presumes that it, too, will cash in if it publishes this book.
But who would buy it? I can imagine an adolescent boy or a young man pulling it off the shelf in a bookstore, perusing some of the autobiographical material, and reading out loud with glee a paragraph or two to a friend. But I cannot imagine any boy or man forking over $27.99 or even a tenner for the volume.
Let me add that I cannot imagine a man writing a comparable book about the male member. Nor can I imagine an adolescent boy or a man buying such a book (or even wanting to look at it).
Given, however, that the editors at HarperCollins have a pretty good notion of the bottom line and that Naomi Wolf’s earlier efforts must have sold well enough to justify the press’s taking a financial risk on this volume, I can only conclude that among today’s women there is a market for such schlock. I say “today’s women” advisedly – for I cannot imagine women of my mother’s generation or even of my own being interested in what Naomi Wolf is so desperate to put on display.
And yet, as I write these words, the book is listed on Amazon as no. 513 in sales – which suggests that HarperCollins is likely to turn a tidy profit.
What has happened to American women? How is it that so many of them are willing to invest in a book in which, as Florence King, puts it, “We are knocked down by streams of gushing hormones, we slip and slide on slick layers of lubrication, we are thrown to the floor by violent throbbing, we collide with G-spots, we are challenged by a clitoris demanding ‘Who goes there?’ and yanked in by a cervix with a strength more often found in bar bouncers?”
What, gentle reader, am I missing? If I were to read Fifty Shades of Grey, would this clarify matters?
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May '10
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Sad.
Re: The Return of the Wolf
It may help you to know that many of us women are not willing to invest in Wolf's latest attempt at feminist political porn.
Re: The Return of the Wolf
That is what I would expect of the thoughtful people who read and comment on this site. But what is going on with those who do buy this sort of thing?
Apr '11
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Many of my contemporaries read Fifty Shades of Grey this summer. A lot of these same women were not very familiar with Ryan when Romney announced him as his running mate. It's disconcerting but not surprising that people will spend their time on garbage, yet remain uninformed in a time when the very soul of our nation hangs in the balance.
Jun '10
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Narcissists, like Wolf, are most interesting to themselves, and to others that aspire to narcissism. That's why I don't worry much about them, unless they happen to be President of the United States. I'm glad to say that I can't even work up enough interest in Ms. Wolf to be properly disgusted. Life is too short.
Apr '11
Re: The Return of the Wolf
She has the aura of election upon her. (I wonder if anyone will get that reference).
Feb '11
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Stuart Schneiderman has some thoughts on the book, and the appeal of Wolf to some women, here and here.
Apr '12
Re: The Return of the Wolf
The Beauty Myth was the last feminist screed I could stomach with Wolf coming in as relief for the old gang of 2nd wavers using the same shoddy scholarship and self-serving conclusions that are a hallmark of the genre.
Romance novels for feminists might describe her style.
Aug '12
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Oh wmartin... (If her accusation did in fact occur) he was right... "She's a deeply troubled girl." Between this and King's review, I've tears running down my cheeks from laughing so hard. And ummm, Prof Rahe, I agree; I cannot imagine any male writing such a tome about his genitalia. Wolf is offensive, pathetic and disturbed.
Nov '10
Re: The Return of the Wolf
The first time (and last) time I heard Ms. Wolfe speak was a television interview she did with Harvey Mansfield in 2006 when Manliness came out. "My god, this woman was a Rhodes Scholar?!" She sounded like a complete twit/airhead. Actually, a combination of airhead and supercilious condescension toward a magnificent scholar.
She was a HUGE deal among practically all the women at my college campus back in day. What a corrosive influence.
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Paul A. Rahe
That is what I would expect of the thoughtful people who read and comment on this site. But what is going on with those who do buy this sort of thing? · 46 minutes ago
I would only be speculating, but I think there are certain pockets of women who equate proud immodesty with female empowerment. Honestly, it's a played out theme. I'm not sure what else we can learn from Naomi on this subject.
Jun '12
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Mine too. Pitiful. I guess we should never underestimate the liberal female proclivity to be marketed.
Sep '12
Re: The Return of the Wolf
What you're missing is gyno-narcissism: it's a driving force of much of feminist obsession with female sexual parts and sexual experience. Gyno-narcissism is not just ordinary self-absorption but a kind of idolatry of what women think and want and feel--and, of course, not women as a whole, but the constantly aggrieved women who most identify with feminism. Naturally, they're going to be more narcissistic than women who don't find traditional sexual morality or traditional sexual beliefs all that oppressive. Also, naturally, gyno-narcissists are lacking in self-awareness. They have no idea there is anything abnormal about them, and react to anyone who questions whether their anatomy and experiences are worthy objects of endless fascination with cries of "Patriarchy! Oppression!"
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Wait a minute: Do we know for a fact that any actual citizens are purchasing copies of their own free will? This is the Age of Obama, after all.
Isn't it more likely that brisk sales of Vagina: A New Biography are occasioned by some federal grant? I imagine books being distributed gratis by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Department of Health and Human Services, and bureaucracies unknown to libraries, feminist groups and welfare offices, where reading Ms. Wolf should count toward the work requirement--I'd apply a multiplier.
Another possibility is that Vagina: A New Biography is one of the few shovel-ready projects stimulated by the latter phases of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Thanks to federal purchases of Ms. Wolf's latest, we could soon be enjoying a crisp Recovery Autumn.
However, my favorite hypothesis is that Vagina: A New Biography is being inventoried by HHS as one of the more effective forms of free contraception mandated by Mr. Obama and Ms. Sebelius.
Edited on September 24, 2012 at 5:09amFeb '12
Re: The Return of the Wolf
I have always believed their is a strain of self-hatred in Ms. Wolfe. Since I have never bought or read any of her books, only seen interviews and read excerpts in articles about her, I must conclude she is also narcissistic and shallow. Life is hard. It can be hard being an educated professional woman, hard being a wife & a mother and being a grandmother can also be challenging at times. And I would not trade one minute of any of those experiences and forgo these blessings.
Jul '12
Re: The Return of the Wolf
I have six liberal sisters aged 50 to 70. All, but one, live in California. Four of the six will buy Wolf's latest book. Three of those four will "discuss" it at their book clubs. None of them will read it.
Sep '12
Re: The Return of the Wolf
George Savage
Another possibility is that Vagina: A New Biography is one of the few shovel-ready projects stimulated by the latter phases of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Thanks to federal purchases of Ms. Wolf's latest, we could soon be enjoying a crisp Recovery Autumn.
Shovel-ready, indeed. It will make excellent fuel for autumn bonfires! Toasted marshmallow, anyone?
Mar '11
Re: The Return of the Wolf
Paul A. Rahe
What, gentle reader, am I missing? If I were to read Fifty Shades of Grey, would this clarify matters?
Err, no, not really.
Jul '11
Re: The Return of the Wolf
I can say with the utmost confidence there is nothing she could possibly say to interest me.
Jan '11
Re: The Return of the Wolf
When it comes to women talking about women, I usually stay out of the comment thread. But this statement caught my eye:
Has Naomi Wolf decided that women don't understand their own experience, and thank God that Naomi Wolf has arrived to explain it to them?
I could possibly tolerate feminism if it only meant that women tell men about the female experience. But feminism isn't [women-talking-to-men], it's [some] women demanding that other women adopt selected attitudes. How else to explain feminists who feel the need to demythologize motherhood ... to women?