Virginity or death! : and other social and political issues of our time / Katha Pollitt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pollitt, Katha.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Social conditions--1980-2020.

United States.

Social conditions.

United States--Politics and government--2001-2009.

Politics and government.

United States--Politics and government--1993-2001.

Physical Description:

xx, 265 pages : portrait ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Random House Trade Paperbacks, [2006]

Summary:

Through presidential administrations Democratic and Republican, Katha Pollitt has observed and exposed the inconsistencies and illogic of those who stand in the way of progress solely to hold on to their power. In defense of human rights and equality, she assails the corrupt and educates the misguided with compassion, Swiftian wit, and complete literary authority.

In this compelling collection, Pollitt skewers one hypocrite after another. She suggests, for example, that creationists be permitted to oppose the teaching of evolution only so long as they agree to forgo the benefits of the theory-such as flu vaccines. She gently wonders if those who denounced the decision to allow Terri Schiavo to die in peace would themselves be satisfied to be video-diagnosed by Senator Bill Frist. And in the title essay, concerning fundamentalists' antagonism toward sex education and STD prevention, she asks, "What is it with these right-wing Christians? Faced with a choice between sex and death, they choose death every time."

Pollitt is one of the most eloquent and persuasive voices in American political conversation of this or any other era, and Virginity or Death! is a marvelous demonstration of her keen insight, mordant humor, and sense of justice.

Contents:

Dear Larry, Thanks! John 3

No Olive Branch 6

Vaginal Politics 9

Anti-Catholic? Round Two 12

Letters to the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives 15

This Warning May Be Hazardous to Your Health 19

Analyze This 22

Childcare Scare 25

Happy Mother's Day 28

Cold Comfort 31

Mad Bad Ads 34

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's ... Superclone? 37

Baby, It's Cold Inside! 40

Summer Follies 43

Put Out No Flags 46

Where Are the Women? 49

War and Peace 52

After the Taliban 55

Shotgun Weddings 58

Pierre Bourdieu, 1930-2002 61

Egg on the Brain 64

Justice, Not So Swift 67

God Changes Everything 70

Backlash Babies 73

Regressive Progressive? 76

Special Rights for the Godly? 79

Ashcroft Love Iran 82

School's Out 85

Beyond Good and Evil 88

Letter to an Ex-Contrarian 91

Raise a Glass to the Stay-at-Home Voter? 94

As Miss World Turns 97

They Know When You Are Sleeping 100

War. What Is It Good For? 103

Pride and Prejudice 106

Weapons of Mass Delusion? 109

Bah, Humbug 112

White Lies 115

Blond Ambition 118

Lost Innocents 121

Selling Dean Short 124

Stacked Decalogue 127

Governor Groper? 130

After You, My Dear Alphonse 133

Is the Pope Crazy? 136

There They Go Again 139

Adam and Steve-Together at Last 142

Good News for Women 145

Lost in Space 149

Judy, Judy, Judy 152

Kristof to the Rescue? 157

Toothpaste, Cough Drops, Aspirin, Contraception 160

The Protocols of Mel Gibson 163

Pull Over, NASCAR Dads 166

Pregnant and Dangerous 169

Down and Out in Texas 172

Show and Tell in Abu Ghraib 175

Desperately Seeking Health Insurance 178

Sex and the Stepford Wife 181

Let's Not Devalue Ourselves 184

Bush Bashers and the Bashers Who Bash Them 187

Mary Cheney, Mary Cheney 190

Mourn 193

Earthly Rewards for the Christian Voter 196

Stop Crying, Start Working 199

Bittersweet Bomblets 202

Jesus to the Rescue? 205

Summers of Our Discontent 208

Invisible Women 211

Backward Christian Soldiers 214

Andrea Dworkin, 1946-2005 217

Practice What You Preach 220

Virginity or Death! 224

Stiffed 227

If the Frame Fits ... 230

Should Roe Go? 233

Feminists for (Fetal) Life 236

Theocracy Lite 239

Intelligible Design 242

Desperate Housewives of the Ivy League? 245

If Not Miers, Who? 248

Madam President, Madam President 251

The World According to Dowd 254

Girls Against Boys? 257

Pro-Choice Puritans 260

Betty Friedan, 1921-2006 263.

Notes:

A collection of articles originally published in the author's column, Subject to debate, in the Nation.

"Random House trade paperback original"--T.p. verso.

ISBN:

081297638X

OCLC:

65165506

Publisher Number:

9780812976380

Online:

Publisher description