Why Does Everyone Hate Ruth?

Bernie and Ruth Madoff were inseparable. An old friend tells New York magazine's Sheelah Kolhatkar, "I never knew Ruth without Bernie; it's like bacon and eggs." Now, the hate directed towards Madoff is being visited upon his wife. Her kids won't talk to her. Her hairdresser won't do her hair. According to her statement that followed Madoff's sentencing, Ruth's entering the new, "meta" phase of the ordeal: managing how guilty people perceive her to be. Gloria Steinem weighed in, chalking up people's dislike of Ruth to—surprise!—her gender. "It's the gender politics of the culture," Steinem said. "It's easier to blame the person with less power."