So happy this book is out tomorrow! My question: Why do so many successful women in leadership and role model positions, when asked, say they are not a feminist.....right after they just finish giving luncheon speeches talking about how sexism affected their career. Sure, they made it, but not without extra struggle. They applaud themselves for making it over the wall. But have no interest in dismantling it. Why?

Andi Zeisler This is a really great question. It's one that I'd love to see posed more often to such women themselves. From my own experience with such women, my sense is that the simple answer has to do with internalized misogyny and the belief that patriarchy is a foregone conclusion.
Women are so often socialized to see each other as competition, but even more important is that we (and note that I believe this is true for all genders, in varying ways) are encouraged to see sexism as an individual matter rather than as a systemic one, particularly within institutions—schools, corporations, entire industries—where power has traditionally been defined by and concentrated in male spheres.
Ariel Levy, in her book Female Chauvinist Pigs, wrote about "loophole women"—women in historically male industries who pride themselves on overcoming sexism but then recast their experiences as singular, rather than shared. Like you say, they see having gained inclusion into a boys' club as a personal achievement that's a testament to their exceptionalism and grit. To work toward actually dismantling the system becomes too risky to their hard-won success.

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