The Power and the Gloria
Today on Tablet
November 29, 2011
The star feminist lawyer Gloria Allred, a Philadelphia-born Jew, is moved to defend the scores of victimized and/or jilted woman whom she does—most recently, Sharon Bialek, the first woman to accuse Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment—because for her the personal truly is political: in her life she has been impregnated by an emotionally abusive man who left her as well as, in another instance, by rape. But, columnist Michelle Goldberg argues today in Tablet Magazine, Allred’s crusades, while broadly embodying core feminist values, too often in substance and style turn into her worst enemies’ worst caricatures. As yet another woman accuses Cain, this time alleging not harassment but a 13-year-long affair, one wonders when Allred will next be on the scene. The wait surely won’t be long.
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.
