The Marriage Myth (Pt 1): When Newsweek Struck Panic in Single Women Everywhere
In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett · iHeartPodcasts and The Meteor
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Show Notes
It was a 1986 cover story with a claim that spread like wildfire: A single woman over 40 was “more likely to be killed by a terrorist” than to get married. Jess and Susie unravel the origin of that salacious report — later retracted — and dissect how such a line went from reporter’s notebook to reference point in films such as “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally.” Plus: How that Newsweek story inspired Susan Faludi to write her blockbuster feminist classic, Backlash.
Guests:
- E. Jean Carroll, journalist, longtime Elle advice columnist and author of “What Do We Need Men For?”
- Susan Douglas, professor of media studies at the University of Michigan and author of “Enlightened Sexism”
FOR MORE:
- Single, Female, and Desperate No More (NY Times, 2006)
- Revisiting Newsweek’s ‘More Likely To Be Killed By a Terrorist’ Story (The Atlantic, 2016)
- Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi (1991)
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