After her first book, a critic argued that maybe not all feminists were ‘dogs’
Men used Germaine Greer’s 1970 book to condescendingly give their (unsolicited) opinions about feminism
“Yes, another women’s liberation book,” yawned Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in a New York Times review that ran April 20,1970. The book in question was Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch, which argued that women were repressed — sexually and otherwise — by men’s patriarchal expectations. It would make Greer, an Australia native, a household name in the U.S. and beyond. (By 1971, she appeared laughing on the cover of Life magazine beside the memorable headline “Saucy Feminist That Even Men Like” — a sentiment that said more about men than Greer herself). But Lehmann-Haupt was dismissively skeptical of the new volume.
He commented on Greer’s appearance, saying she “can’t exactly be accommodated to the argument that feminists are dogs.” (Like Gloria Steinem, Greer possessed a conventional prettiness that was much remarked upon early in her career.) Lehmann-Haupt continued, “Judging by her table of contents…we are now in for the familiar litany. Male chauvinist vampires! Charles Revson oppresses women! Freedom to die in Vietnam Now!”
But then he makes a sudden turn, praising Greer for “chipping at a cornerstone” of the women’s movement: the clitoral orgasm. (Greer thought the focus on clitoral stimulation reflected a move toward “genitality” rather than a full “sexuality.”) Lehmann-Haupt goes on to engage briefly with some of the other ideas in the text, and then writes that he wishes the timing of The Female Eunuch was like that of Kate Millett’s popular Sexual Politics because “it is everything that Kate Millett’s book is not — lively, spontaneous, witty,” among other things. Greer’s book, he ultimately argues, shows that “it is history and civilization, not a conspiracy of male egos, that have created the nightmare from which women are trying to awake.”
The piece is a startling reminder of a time when male critics felt free to dismiss feminism out of hand and to discuss the appearance of female authors in the pages of major newspapers. It is also a glimpse of a moment, almost unimaginable now, when men read books by women, and felt compelled to engage with their ideas.
At Timeline, we reveal the forces that shaped America’s past and present. Our team and the Timeline community are scouring archives for the most visually arresting and socially important stories, and using them to explain how we got to now. To help us tell more stories, please consider becoming a Timeline member.
