5 Feet of Fury

‘I’ve been described as shrill. Isn’t that strange?’

Renata Adler still around:

Does she think any of the backlash was due to her sex? It seems to me that men can be utterly vile in print and get away with it, whereas a woman has only to speak her mind to be considered a bitch. (After all, the journalist James Wolcott has mightily slagged off Adam Gopnik and he is still in work.) “I think that’s absolutely right. Shrill. I’ve been described as shrill. Isn’t that strange? When feminism began, I thought: well, it hasn’t been a problem for me, being a woman. But now I look back and I notice…” Her voice trails off.