cover image The Secret Between Us: Competition Among Women

The Secret Between Us: Competition Among Women

Laura Tracy. Little Brown and Company, $19.95 (261pp) ISBN 978-0-316-85220-3

Tracy ( Catching the Drift ) generalizes that ``connection is the rule for women as is separation for men,'' and argues that in a patriarchal society these connections foster secret but intense rivalries. Of the 100 women interviewed, many note that women--though never the respondents ok? themselves--can be fiercely competitive, ``worse than men.'' Tracy, who teaches English and women's studies at Georgetown University, arbitrarily lumps under the heading of ``competition'' the very special nature and complexities of emotional relationships between mother and daughter, sisters and friends; and rivalry for men and on the jobok? the relationships and rivalry are separate elements?/the first is non-sexual,hence relationships and rivalry for men are separate elements . However, finding it encouraging that some women are unafraid to compete in the open, she stresses that ``only when we recognize our own competitiveness can we change the way we relate to each other,'' that calm confrontation can strengthen a relationship, that ``competition can be fun.'' A banal book. (May)