The Princess at the Window: A New Gender Morality. - book reviews

Journal of Sex Research, Spring, 1997 by Edward S. Herold

The Princess at the Window: A New Gender Morality. By. Donna Laframboise. Toronto, Ontario: Penguin Books, 1996, 370 pages. Paper, $19.99.

Reviewed by Edward S. Herold, Ph.D., The University of Guelph, Department of Family Studies, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.

This book will undoubtedly upset many radical feminists but be embraced by many liberal feminists. As noted by Naomi McCormick (1994), radical feminists focus on the dangers of sex, whereas liberal feminists focus on the pleasures of sex.

Donna Laframboise is a young feminist who graduated with top honours from the Women's Studies Department at the University of Toronto and who for the past few years has been a journalist. The book is targeted to the general public as well as the academic community. Laframboise wrote this book because she is deeply concerned about the direction mainstream feminism has taken. Feminist critiques have typically used American examples, and a significant contribution of this book is that it draws on examples from both Canada and the United States. This is important because the feminist movement has had considerably more influence on Canadian laws than on American laws.

This book is controversial and, given its focus, has been vilified by radical feminists who themselves are attacked throughout the book for their extremism and intolerance toward points of view other than their own. Using a frank, "no holds barred" approach, Laframboise clearly lays the blame for many of feminism's problems at the feet of radical feminists. She strongly believes that for feminism to survive it must be open to criticism and that critics of feminism should be viewed as friends who want to improve feminist philosophy rather than as enemies who are portrayed as contributing to the destruction of feminism.

The book has eight chapters. In the first chapter Laframboise refers to the "lunatic fringe" of feminism in critiquing the writings of Marilyn French and Catharine MacKinnon. She accuses these writers of perpetuating sexism against men in the form of male bashing. According to Laframboise, these writers are guilty of perpetuating extremist gender stereotypes (e.g., all men are exploitative of women, all men are guilty of committing crimes against women). In contrast, Laframboise is critical of feminists who portray women as being morally superior to men and incapable of committing violent acts unless they have been corrupted by men.

In Chapter 2, Laframboise acknowledges that violence against women and sexual abuse are serious problems. However, she is critical of the stereotype that women and children are always the victims of violence and/or sexual abuse and that men are never the victims. She is particularly concerned about feminists who state that false allegations of sexual violence such as .rape never occur. She points out that in other areas of criminal law, the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty, yet when it comes to allegations of sexual wrongdoing, the opposite occurs, with the accused immediately judged guilty.

In Chapter 3, Laframboise criticizes the feminist double standard, which minimizes any problems men may have. Behind this double standard is the belief that because of the patriarchal power structure, men, in comparison with women, really do not have any problems after all, they are the privileged ones. If this is the case, Laframboise wonders why about five times as many men as women commit suicide. Also, what about the fact that women, on average, live longer than men? Laframboise speculates that if the reverse were true and men outlived women, feminists would interpret this as another example of how women's lives are worse than men's. She also critiques the assumption that all acts of violence against women are part of the political agenda of men to suppress women. This assumption is totally against the fact that many men see themselves as being the protector of women and children. Many men suffer physical harm and in some cases death when trying to rescue women who are being threatened--yet these men are totally ignored in feminist analyses. Aren't men taught that in the lifeboat situation, they must be prepared to give up their seats to women and children, if so called upon? Feminist analysis is also critiqued for glossing over the statistic that in North America, more men than women are murdered. Here, Laframboise argues, is a typical example of how some feminists conveniently ignore any statistical data that are contrary to their feminist beliefs.

Chapter 4 deals with the issue of political correctness. According to Laframboise, many radical feminists are intolerant of those who disagree with them, and women who diverge from the "party line" are dismissed as not being true feminists. This aspect of intolerance of dissenting opinions concerns Laframboise the most. Using several examples, she illustrates how women who have tried to express any views that are not considered acceptable to radical feminists have been viciously attacked on a personal level and treated with contempt as the enemy. The author is especially upset with professors who engage in "indoctrination" as opposed to scholarly inquiry.