Sex Objects, Sex Subjects Atlantic Edition

• Published in: Newsweek (International, Atlantic edition) p. 74
• Main Author: Power, Carla
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Newsweek Publishing LLC 05.01.1998
• Edition: International ed.
• ISSN: 0163-7053

The wave of grief following [Diana]'s death was viewed as proof of the world's "feminization." Even in the stiff-upper-lip zone of international diplomacy, there were signs of the fairer sex. When the Taliban clamped down on Afghan women's rights to work and go to school, it wasn't just feminists and human-rights types who were outraged. The United Nations dispatched a delegation to coordinate a gender policy for teams in the country; on a visit to Pakistan last month, [MADELEINE ALBRIGHT] called Taliban policies "despicable." Her first year as U.S. secretary of state signaled the death of brandy- and-handshake diplomacy: it's hard to imagine Henry Kissinger swapping stories of refugee life with Afghan schoolgirls, or Warren Christopher grilling leaders in the Persian Gulf on the gender breakdown in their cabinets. This was less a year of women as sex objects than as sex subjects. In her new book on female sexuality, "Promiscuities," Naomi Wolf set out "to explore the shadow slut who walks alongside us." This year, the shadow slut got her walk in the sun. Female desire drove plots in movies like "The Tango Lesson" and "The Wings of the Dove." Couture models strutted down catwalks in stiletto heels and thigh-skimming minis. Tributes to slain fashion designer Gianni Versace lauded his knack for making streetwalkers' leather-and-flesh esthetic chic. And of course, the Spice Girls thrust their way into the hearts of various Establishments: Ginger Spice patted Prince Charles's bottom and told him he was sexy; Nelson Mandela said meeting the five Spices was "the greatest moment" of his life.