Sexism in America: Alive, Well, and Ruining Our Future

Barbara J. Berg

Jan 2009 · Chicago Review Press

About this ebook

The news in 2008 was that women had taken huge strides forward. Feminists' decades-long struggle finally seemed to be paying off, not only in boardrooms, classrooms, and kitchens but also at the very top--in presidential politics. But what is the truth behind the headlines?

In Sexism in America: Alive, Well, and Ruining Our Future, renowned feminist author Barbara J. Berg debunks the many myths about how far women have come and the pervasive belief that ours is a postfeminist society. Combining authoritative research and compelling storytelling, Berg traces the assault on women's status from the 1950s--when Newsweek declared "for the American girl, books and babies don't mix"--to the present, exploring the deception about women's progress and contextualizing our current situation. All women are hurt by a society lauding their attributes in speeches while scorning them in public policy and popular culture, and the legacy of the women's movement is being short-circuited in every aspect of their lives.

Passionate, extensively documented, humorous, and persuasive, Sexism in America is simultaneously enlightening, frightening, and revitalizing. Berg, an ardent optimist, helps women understand where they are and why and how they can move beyond the marginalizing strategies. It is exactly the right book at exactly the right time.

About the author

Barbara J. Berg, PhD, is the author of The Crisis of the Working Mother, Nothing to Cry About, and The Remembered Gate: Origins of American Feminism. She has written for the Baltimore Sun, Ladies' Home Journal, Ms., the New York Times Magazine, Parents, the Washington Post, and Working Woman. She lives in New York City.