Final Analysis: Susan Estrich on the Battle of the Sexes

This law professor is known for her fierceness, but she worries she just isn't tough enough. 

By: Jay Dixit

Susan Estrich, Democratic doyenne, is a trailblazer: She was the first woman president of the Harvard Law Review, the first woman to manage a major presidential campaign (Michael Dukakis's), and the youngest woman to be tenured at Harvard Law School. Now a law professor at the University of Southern California, she didn't get to where she is by being passive. But despite her reputation for fierceness, she fears she's not tough enough.

Do you have to be a killer to succeed?

The rules that govern success are still what I would call boys' rules. There's no limit to how assertive, aggressive, and ruthless a man can be, and be viewed positively, but realistically, women have to dance on that one. Men who don't care about their appearance do a lot better than women who don't care about their appearance. It's just a reality.

You've been criticized for your ruthless tactics.

I've made big mistakes professionally because I didn't want to step on people who probably deserved to be stepped on. I think anything a woman does that looks ambitious gets noticed, but the problem that most women have is that they're not ambitious enough.

What's your perspective on innate differences between men and women?

Anybody who's the mother of a daughter and a son will attest that they come different. But so what? That doesn't mean that every man is different from every woman.

You wrote a book for women about how to lose weight. Is that a feminist issue?

Dealing with your weight in a healthy way, as opposed to letting it get in the way of your life—which I did for many years, is a feminist issue. And to get stuck on weight, to be standing in a dressing room with women of every nationality, talking about how much they hate themselves—"I hate my hips, I hate my thighs, I hate my stomach, I hate myself"—is not very feminist. And it sold more copies than any other book I ever wrote.

What kind of man is attracted to you?

A very secure one. In Los Angeles you see so many stereotypical couples: older successful man, younger less successful woman. I don't think it's about sex necessarily, I think it's about convenience, in the sense of wanting someone who will not talk back, who will make your life easy, who will take their side of the bargain as being a type of appliance.

But I always laugh when I hear successful women say, "I can't date because I'm so smart that no guy would ever go out with me!" I think that's a little ridiculous.

I could date a lot more if I wanted to. It's just that with two teenagers, I'd rather be with my kids than on a bad date.

Psychology Today Magazine, Jan/Feb 2008

Last Reviewed 29 Jan 2008

Article ID: 4505