Are Men Necessary?

[Empress_Of_Drac]

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Times columnist Maureen Dowd raises ruckus with new book

[img width=220 height=168]http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/11/15/dowd.men.necessary/story.dowd.jpg[/img]
Maureen Dowd is best known for her twice-weekly New York Times column.

(CNN) -- If Maureen Dowd was trying to cause controversy, she's done a good job.

Her new book, "Are Men Necessary?" (Putnam), compiles a number of her New York Times columns and new thoughts on that oldest of conflicts: the battle of the sexes.

In the book she wonders about the state of feminism, the value in pursuing a mate, the belief that smart women get left home on Saturday nights and whether women's magazines have given up thoughtful articles for beauty tips and empty sexuality.

She's obviously hit a nerve. An excerpt from the book that appeared in the October 30 New York Times Magazine was, for a time, the newspaper's most e-mailed article. On Sunday, the magazine printed 20 lettersexternal link about the piece -- six or seven times more than it ran for any of the other articles in the Dowd issue.

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I guess many would react on this topic...the author would definitely have a good market...lol

[Visual C#]

Yes, I think gravity is also not necessary.. damn gravity! Always makes the Olympics difficult! Friction too!

[splendid moonlight]

Men afraid of female power?

Despite -- or perhaps because -- of the multiplicity of female identities, Dowd observes that, decaying Y chromosome or not, men appear afraid of female power. At the least, she suggests, they may be afraid of her and her intelligent peers. (Dowd quotes a friend, Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani, crying, "Now I'll never get a date!" after winning the Pulitzer.)

Some reviewers have questioned Dowd's theory.

"As Dowd would have it, men simply find her intelligence, her status, her wit too daunting," wrote Katie Roiphe in Slate. "But is it possible that there is something else at play? ... [A New York magazine] piece ... describes the wide variety of men Dowd has been involved with, ranging from movie stars, to important editors, to creators of television dramas. ... One imagines that her intelligence, her sharpness, her sarcasm may even have interested these men. Could there possibly be another reason that the attractive, successful Dowd has not settled down?"

Dowd said the issue isn't so black or white.

"[The book] isn't at all pessimistic about the chances of strong, successful women," she said. "The only point I make is that ... at the dawn of feminism, we assumed that having a high-power career and having, you know, snappy banter would be things that would fascinate men. And a lot of times I think it's turned out that men find those things draining and oftentimes would rather be with a woman who is in awe of them."

it is true in some cases. but it is not something women should be afraid of. women can't blunt their capacity to be great women just so they'd get themselves a man still. women should live according to their capability and talent, then they would surely find themselves a man who is just the same - a man who lives to his capability. if a man finds that quality in a woman troubling, that is his problem.

[fingolfin]

Ms. Dowd might have forgotten that her dad was a man. without that man she wouldn't have existed.

[psyche_08]

tsk tsk... poor girl that maureen dowd...

[dairyman]

is she married? does she have a son? if none, that's her problem... hehehe

women can't compete with men, there are things men can't do that women can and vice versa...

so, shut up (maureen dowd)... you just want to sell your book!

[lestat1116]

i think shes a tomboy.. thats why he dosnt need a man... she needs only a di***... hik hik hik

[websniper]

This is only her way to captured the attention of the public and a sort of advertisement of her book.

[fingolfin]

and boy did she caught our attention. hehehe.

[dairyman]

and boy did she caught our attention. hehehe.

hell yeah... hehehe