Part 1: Chapters 2-3 Summary and Analysis

Part 1, "Myths and Flashbacks", begins with an analysis of "Man Shortages and Barren Wombs". Backlash myths are untrue, but bounce around until they cannot be discounted. In 1987, Shere Hite publishes a 922-page compendium in which 4,500 women despair about not being treated as equals by mates. Newsweek ridicules her as a "pop-culture demagogue". At the same time, the media embrace social scientist Dr. Srully Blotnick, who claims that careers make women miserable and declares the women's movement a "smoke screen" for ambition. It turns out that Blotnick has lied about his methodology and his credentials, but the media say little and his publisher defends his "good insights". Under Reagan, U.S. Census Bureau demographers are pressured to generate data that fit the war on women's independence.

A second myth claims there is a shortage of men for college-educated...