Conflict Unresolved: Men's Responses To Second Wave Feminism in Wendy Wasserstein's Isn't It Romantic (1983) and the Heidi Chronicles (1988)

Abstract

This article focuses on Wendy Wasserstein's (1950-2006) social commentary through drama in order to draw attention to the impact of feminist and men's movements on men. Specifically, it explores the role of men in terms of their relationships with women and their responses to the Second Wave of Feminism under the influence of men's movements in the 1980s through two Wasserstein plays, Isn't It Romantic (1983) and The Heidi Chronicles (1988). The analysis concludes that men failed to understand the aspirations and demands of women. Feeling that their manhood was threatened by feminists, men attacked and attempted to control them while using the gains of female liberation to their advantage at the same time.