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Maureen Dowd is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times who tackles tough topics for a living. Now she's entering a potential mind field with her second book, it's called "Are Men Necessary? ".
I like the cover by the way. Maureen Dowd. Nice to have you here. How are you doing?
I'm good Matt.
Despite the fact that, I mean, clearly the title of this book is gonna get a lot of attention. But why do you want to write about men and women gender in America?
Well, because I have been writing about things like torture, and fake reasons to go to war and a lot of heavy things for five years, and I thought it would be fun to change the topic to gender wars. Cause we haven't talked about where men and women stand, and a long time in terms of what worked and what didn't work, starting with the sexual revolution.
Right on the back cover of the book, (Right. ) you're pretty honest about what you hope to accomplish with it. Do you mind if I rea. . . read it to you?
"I don't understand men. They are a most inscrutable bunch really. I admit I have no answers, but for decades, I'd love to ask him the questions, I possess no special wisdom about redemption , in matters of sex and love. I'm not paddling a theory or slogan or a policy. I'm as baffled as the next woman. " So if you don't have answers, what are the questions you wanna ask?
Well, that was before I saw the Panamanian mating, yes, that's all we need. Er. . . There are many questions which is starting with feminism in the late 60s or early 70s, when I came of age, we (were) supposed to protect women from being sex objects and economically dependent and caring too much about their looks and we travel this trajectory where women have gone in exactly the opposite direction.
Yeah you write about the fact that here we are today and a lot of women starving themselves to death and going through plastic surgery to look like that Barbie model you are supposed to get away from.
More of the women on the show, Yeah. And yeah, so we started out, you know, denouncing Barbie. Well they did, that's why I never really related, because they were trying to take all the stuff that women love, like fashion, and high heels, and shopping, and demonize it. So now, we have gone a little bit too far in the other direction where feminism has been replaced by Nazism, and women are overly obsessed with looks.
So we have gone from June Cleaver in the 50s , a perfect housewife,to the bra-burni(ng) burning feminists of the 70s to, how would you describe them today?
Well, now plastic breast and padded bras, and instead of not shaving their legs, they'd like the lace on the hair of their body, everything is exactly the opposite.
So are you disappointed in women today?
Oh no, I think it's like great progress, we started out aping men, we were going to dress like them and work like them, and have sex like them, and then we have to stop and say no, we want to relate to the world like women. So it's definitely progress. It's just access which is of very American trait.
You know, it's funny because physical appearance is something you write about a lot in your book, and yet you are someone who's got a lot of ink over your own appearance. She had been called the vixen and the bombshell, in the articles I've read, you've been accused of being someone who uses your feminine charms to, to kind of get what you want. How do you plead?
Well, Ok, so in the book I do a lot of gender blending, so what about you, are you a vixen or bombshell?
I don't know what is the equivalent term with the, . . , I probably wouldn't fit the characterization.
I mean I think a lot of women tune into your show to see you. .
Oh Yeah! You're a raven here and a vixen about it. .
But I didn't write a book about it. So, just curious, do you plead guilty in the fact that you have also taken to some of these things in terms of physical appearance.
No, that's the point of the book, that in early feminism they didn't allow women to like glamour, and fashion, and all the things we like.
So It's ok now!
Oh, Yeah, the only difficulty is if it goes too far in women, goes so far back in retro-terms and being so obsessed with looks. So they don't even know who's getting on the Supreme Court.
Talk about that what you write about men ok, where men stand right now. Do you still believe when you talk about a study, a British study, from the 20s or so? where it's basically smart men, powerful men don't want women with high IQs by their side. Do you still believe that?
Oh, well I agree with Katie, I think strong successful women can get men. Look at Katie, men are falling all over her. It's not that , it's just a little trickier, a little harder than we might have thought at the beginning when it was a road to utopian equality. Because a lot of that things we did to fascinate men, like having high power careers, and, you know, the snappy 40s be entered which Katie is an expert at that, ended up some man find that dreaming, that's awesome.
Intimidating!
Yeah! I meant a lot of men, Sarah Silverman has an article in Radar this month, it's about when she was at the stand-up Comedian Club, you know, she wanted it to the comics, because they had a sheer passion, but the comics wanted it to the waitresses cause they were in odd. So a lot of men, you know, like to be with women who're in odd of them, but that's no problem, then you just look for man who like to banter and play.
When you work for paper like the New York Times, you write a book. Is it a harrowing ordeal to open the paper and read the review of your own book inside of it?
Well, I did actually. . .
Cause I didn't think it was all that wonderful of a review.
No, oh, Well, I never. . . I never read anything about myself, but my mum had a great saying "In cases where people were being catty about you which is just put out the saucer of milk. "
Get ready for the , yeah. .
I'd let her complete the sentence, all right. Maureen Dowd , thanks so much.
Thanks Matt.
Good to have you here and if you like to read next except from the book. It's called "Are Men Necessary? ", you can go to our website at today. msnbc. com.
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