Is Maureen Dowd Necessary?

Slate ^ | 11/2/5 | Katie Roiphe

[Crackingham]

Maureen Dowd's penchant for provocative overstatement has found its most recent outlet in a much talked about excerpt of her new book, Are Men Necessary?, in the New York Times Magazine. In it she bemoans a perceived return of 1950s values and courtship rituals and portrays a younger generation of women as grasping, shallow housewife wannabes and "yummy mommies." In the most inflammatory and intriguing passages, she claims that men are put off by women in power, that they prefer the women who serve them—maids, masseuses, and secretaries—to their equals. She attributes the fact that she is unmarried to her powerful position as an op-ed columnist at the New York Times. Then she notes her own family history of domestic service and concludes that "being a maid would have enhanced my chances with men."

Is this dark view of sexual politics a little extreme? If it is, it shouldn't be surprising. Dowd pushes every statement to its most exaggerated form; her column occupies a space somewhere in between the other columns on the New York Times op-ed page and the political cartoons that sometimes run there. She is, at her best, a brilliant caricaturist of the political scene, turning each presidency into vivid farce. As a caricaturist, she has a fondness for punchy one-liners strung together, and for the one-sentence paragraph: "Survival of the fittest has been replaced by survival of the fakest"; "We had the Belle Epoque. Now we have the Botox Epoch"; and "As a species is it possible that men are ever so last century?"

[b4its2late]

Is Maureen Dowd Necessary?

IMHO, NO.

[SaveTheChief]

She appears to be necessary around here, at least so people can post photos of Catherine Zeta-Jones, which I haven't figured out.

[Cicero]

The short answer, No. But neither is Katie Roiphe.

[litehaus]

Is that a "writ-hor-ical" question?

[RJL]

And this is from Slate!

[HOTTIEBOY]

Anybody think the NY Times would feature a book titled, "Women, Are They Necessary?"

[samadams2000]

I guess her dirty lib act is failing..?

[frogjerk]

[RegulatorCountry]

Bitter, spurned and unloved. It must be tough to be MoDo, or so she harangues at every opportunity. She so clearly wants to hate men, but wants men to love her. A strange delusion.

[Horatio Gates]

Just following the rule...

[w_over_w]

Is Maureen Dowd Necessary?

Yes! She does an excellent job of "voice over" for Marge Simpson.

[ComputerGuy]

She is, at her best, a brilliant caricaturist a bitter non-participant of on the political American scene, turning each presidency observation into vivid farce.

[theDentist]

Is Maureen Dowd Necessary?

Well, if you've eaten too much cheese and are a bit irregular, yes.

[rwa265]

No, but it does help promote the downfall of leftism.

[Rocky]

She appears to be necessary around here, at least so people can post photos of Catherine Zeta-Jones, which I haven't figured out.

Are you being facetious, or do you not know that Michael Douglas was dating Dowd before he left her for Zeta-Jones?

[BikerNYC]

No, she is contingent.

[TravisBickle]

the question is, What Would Michael Do?

[Bob]

She appears to be necessary around here, at least so people can post photos of Catherine Zeta-Jones, which I haven't figured out.

It has to do with a guy named Michael Douglas. He dumped MoDo for CZJ.