The Terror Dream

"This is the book she wrote about 9/11 and how terrorism started a backlash against women – a reversion to mythical roles. I think she is the most important female writer working now. She has written so many important books. I really admire her. In this book she looks at what happened in America – how suddenly there was a feeling that women should go back to housekeeping and childcare instead of working. There was a new gap between men and women, where men should be like John Wayne and women should stay at home. She’s done a huge amount of research into the 9/11 attacks and what happened afterwards. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Two thirds of the people who died in the World Trade Centre were men. Many of the firemen who died did so because they had bad equipment, though this is hardly mentioned. Afterwards, the media constructed an image of strong firemen rescuing weak, vulnerable women. Nobody talked about the fact that the women on board one of the planes also resisted and tried to stop the hijackers. The stewardesses threw boiling water at them, but it didn’t really get reported. It was all brave men trying to wrestle the terrorists down. She draws a line back into history where feminism has always been seen as unpatriotic, as a threat to society, because feminism isn’t interested in fairy tales about macho men. That’s why it’s so threatening. Then she goes back several hundred years to when the Indians were at war with the white population, and she sees that there are similar myths about strong white men rescuing weak women. “Feminism isn’t interested in fairy tales about macho men. That’s why it’s so threatening. ” The stories aren’t true. Sometimes women got kidnapped by the Indians, but many of them didn’t want to be rescued and sometimes went back to the Indian family! Yes, because they are about patriotism and war. The myth of weak women who need to be rescued by strong men. Faludi finds so many of these stories."