Submitted by Jim Valentine, Nov 7, 2007 15:02

In her feminist dismissal of the American historical "myth" of male heros protecting or rescuing helpless females from savages, Susan Faludi largely ignores physiological and anatomical gender bimorphism. The heroic narrative cited which depicts men fighting off attacks by savages in some remote wilderness outpost or rescuing persons from captivity pursuant to such attacks requires a protagonist favored with superior strength, stamina and agility. Statistically and empirically, a "hero" of such a narrative is more likely to be the heavier, stronger and more agile male. If a woman happens to kill and scalp ten of her captors, the incident does not prove that women as a group are equally equipped with the kind of physical strength and aggression necessary to accomplish such a bloody task. The fact that some smaller number of women relative to much larger numbers of men in certain contexts are physically capable of successfully performing deeds we term by consensus "heroic" does little to discredit the "stereotype" of the male hero.

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