Women, Feminism, and Femininity in the 21st Century

Book excerpt: American women look at French women as having it all: sex, motherhood, work, and public office, while French women look at American women as puritanical, excessively feminist, and unable to "have it all" without guilt. The essays in this book by leading American and French academics and critics set the record straight by assessing the truth of each outlook. They conclude that facts are different from imagination, and that on many issues, French feminists could actually look to the U.S. for inspiration. This book offers the first comparative critical appraisal of how women live in the US and in France and suggests paths of reflection on what women can do to improve their lives in the twenty-first century. This is a must read for anyone interested in the nature of womanhood today in the Western World.