Moving Beyond Words

Starred review from April 4, 1994
Steinem is at her polemical best in these six compelling essays--three of which are new, three revised from Ms. articles. She invents ``Dr. Phyllis Freud,'' founder of psychoanalysis, who proved that men's lack of wombs make them terminally envious and whose theories serve as a semi-scientific rationale for men's lower status in a matriarchal society. An interview with women's weightlifting world champ Bev Francis leads Steinem to question assumptions of female weakness and male strength. Another piece demystifies economics by interpreting it as a system of human values, with special reference to women's unpaid or underrated work. Elsewhere Steinem analyzes the growing feminization of poverty and masculinization of wealth, exposes advertisers' restrictive control over the editorial content of women's magazines and reflects on turning 60, an age, she finds, when women grow more radical and rebellious. Each essay is prefaced by an extensive introduction which Steinem uses as a platform to discuss sexual politics. First serial to Ms.