Know Your Enemy27 Jul 2023

Midge Decter: Anti-Feminist Cold Warrior (w/ Moira Donegan & Adrian Daub)

In this episode, Matt and Sam join Moira Donegan and Adrian Daub — co-hosts of the new podcast “In Bed With The Right" — for an in-depth look at the life, times, and work of the late Midge Decter, who died in 2022. Decter was inspired by a distinctly conservative, mid-century American reading of Freudian psychology, mobilized in defense of traditional family hierarchies, which made her an important link between neoconservatives and the religious right — unsurprisingly, she helped found or served on the boards of numerous conservative organizations, including the Heritage Foundation, Committee for the Free World, and the Independent Women's Forum, among others. Her essays, books, and memoirs represent an anguished counter-revolt against the sexual liberation movements of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, and her trajectory from (ostensible) New Deal liberal to anti-feminist Cold Warrior proves a perfect subject for Know Your Enemy. Decter also was married to Norman Podhoretz (another subject of KYE lore) and the mother of John Podhoretz, current editor of Commentary magazine. A quarrelsome, Jewish conservative with a lively writing style and a fascinating, emblematic life story: what could be better?

Further Reading:

Midge Decter, An Old Wife’s Tale: My Seven Decades in Love and War (2002)

—The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women's Liberation (1972)

— Always Right: Selected Writings of Midge Decter (2002)

— Liberal Parents, Radical Children (1975)

— Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait (2003)

— “The Boys on the Beach,” Commentary, Sept 1980.

— “Socialism & Its Irresponsibilities: The Case of Irving Howe,” Commentary, Dec 1982.

— “Documentation: Sex Education on Trial—What They’re Teaching Our Children,” Crisis Magazine, Dec 1, 1998.

John Podhoretz, A Son’s Eulogy for Midge Decter (1927-2022), Commentary, May 12, 2022.

R. R. Reno, “My Memories of Midge Decter,” First Things, May 11, 2022.

Jeet Heer, “Farewell to Midge Decter, the Bigot on the Beach,” The Nation, May 13, 2022.

Ronnie Grinberg, “An overlooked conservative writer helps explain Trump’s enduring appeal,” Washington Post, May 20, 2022.

Douglas Martin, “Midge Decter, an Architect of Neoconservatism, Dies at 94,” NYTimes, May 9, 2022.

Adrienne Rich, “The Anti-Feminist Woman,” NYRB, Nov 30, 1972.

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