Misanthrope’s Corner

LAST month the PBS women’s talk show, To the Contrary, interviewed some woman who had written a book about traveling alone in foreign countries. I was struck by the déjà vu nature of the questions.

Is there a “taboo” about women traveling alone? How are women traveling alone “perceived”? That’s an updated version of “What will people think?” but the tone of voice was the same. They tried to put a feminist spin on it with earnest pronouncements that “women travel differently from men,” but it didn’t work. The telltale signs of female insecurity were evident: the searching look, the eager smile, the tooquick nods of agreement, the little gusts of laughteras-punctuation. It was the same old same old, going back not only to my day but to Victorian times.

About the Author

Florence King

Florence King was a contributing editor of National Review.

Featured Tags

LAST month the PBS women’s talk show, To the Contrary, interviewed some woman who had written a book about traveling alone in foreign countries. I was struck by the déjà vu nature of the questions.

Is there a “taboo” about women traveling alone? How are women traveling alone “perceived”? That’s an updated version of “What will people think?” but the tone of voice was the same. They tried to put a feminist spin on it with earnest pronouncements that “women travel differently from men,” but it didn’t work. The telltale signs of female insecurity were evident: the searching look, the eager smile, the tooquick nods of agreement, the little gusts of laughteras-punctuation. It was the same old same old, going back not only to my day but to Victorian times.