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The Enduring Enigma of the Feminine Mystique: Exploring Betty Friedan's Legacy
The "feminine mystique" – a term that conjures images of stifled dreams and societal expectations – continues to resonate decades after Betty Friedan first coined it. This isn't just a historical artifact; it's a concept that deeply impacts our understanding of gender roles, societal pressures, and the ongoing struggle for women's equality. This comprehensive blog post delves into the core tenets of Friedan's seminal work, explores its lasting influence, and examines its relevance in today's world. We'll unpack its meaning, analyze its criticisms, and consider its enduring legacy on the feminist movement and beyond.
What is the Feminine Mystique?
Betty Friedan's 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, didn't just introduce a phrase; it ignited a revolution. Friedan meticulously documented the discontent simmering beneath the surface of the seemingly idyllic lives of American suburban housewives in the post-war era. The "feminine mystique," as she defined it, was the socially constructed ideal of women finding fulfillment solely through marriage, motherhood, and domesticity. This idealized image, propagated through media and societal pressures, masked a profound sense of emptiness and unfulfilled potential for many women. Friedan argued that this enforced role, far from being naturally fulfilling, led to widespread feelings of anxiety, depression, and a crippling sense of inadequacy.
The Problem That Has No Name
A key element of Friedan's argument was the concept of "the problem that has no name." This phrase perfectly captured the pervasive feeling of dissatisfaction experienced by many women who, despite outwardly appearing content, felt a deep-seated sense of something missing in their lives. This wasn't simply a matter of individual unhappiness; it was a systemic issue rooted in the societal structures that confined women to limited roles and stifled their aspirations.
Beyond the Kitchen and Nursery
Friedan's work didn't advocate for the complete abandonment of domesticity or motherhood. Instead, she argued for a broadening of women's horizons, challenging the notion that fulfillment could only be found within the confines of the home. She championed the idea that women deserved the same opportunities for education, career advancement, and personal growth as men. This wasn't about rejecting traditional roles, but about adding layers of complexity and choice to the lives of women.
The Lasting Impact of the Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique had a profound and lasting impact, acting as a catalyst for second-wave feminism. It gave voice to the anxieties and frustrations felt by countless women, validating their experiences and providing a framework for understanding the systemic issues at play. The book's publication spurred significant social and political change, leading to increased activism, legislative efforts for gender equality, and a broader societal reevaluation of women's roles.
Shifting Societal Norms
Friedan's work significantly contributed to the shift in societal norms surrounding women's education, careers, and overall autonomy. The book's influence can be seen in the increasing numbers of women pursuing higher education and entering the workforce, albeit with ongoing challenges regarding pay equity and representation in leadership positions.
Criticisms and Counterarguments
While The Feminine Mystique holds a significant place in feminist history, it hasn't been without its criticisms. Some argue that Friedan's focus on white, middle-class suburban women overlooked the experiences of women of color and working-class women, whose struggles often differed significantly. Others criticized her seemingly narrow definition of female fulfillment, arguing that it prioritized career achievement over other potentially fulfilling aspects of life. These critiques, while valid, don't diminish the book's historical importance and its contribution to sparking crucial conversations about gender roles and women's liberation.
The Feminine Mystique Today: A Continuing Conversation
The issues raised in The Feminine Mystique remain remarkably relevant today. While progress has undoubtedly been made, women still face significant challenges in balancing work and family life, achieving equal pay, and overcoming ingrained biases in the workplace and society at large. The concept of the "feminine mystique" may have evolved, but its underlying themes of societal pressure, limited opportunities, and the struggle for self-definition continue to resonate with women across generations. The conversation sparked by Friedan's work is far from over, and the ongoing pursuit of gender equality remains a crucial aspect of social justice.
Conclusion
Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique is more than just a book; it's a historical landmark that profoundly shaped the feminist movement and continues to inform discussions about gender equality. While its criticisms are valid and important to consider, its legacy remains undeniable. The book's power lies in its ability to give voice to the unspoken anxieties and frustrations of countless women, igniting a movement that continues to strive for a more equitable and just society.
FAQs
Q1: Is The Feminine Mystique still relevant today?
A1: Absolutely. While societal norms have changed, many of the underlying issues – unequal pay, pressure to conform to gender roles, and the struggle to balance career and family – remain relevant today.
Q2: Who was the intended audience of The Feminine Mystique?
A2: While its impact was far-reaching, Friedan primarily addressed white, middle-class suburban housewives who were experiencing a sense of dissatisfaction and unfulfillment despite their seemingly privileged circumstances.
Q3: What are some of the main criticisms of The Feminine Mystique?
A3: Critics argue that the book overlooked the experiences of women of color and working-class women, focused too narrowly on career achievement as the sole path to fulfillment, and oversimplified the complexities of gender roles.
Q4: How did The Feminine Mystique impact the feminist movement?
A4: It served as a catalyst for second-wave feminism, giving voice to a generation of women and providing a framework for understanding and challenging systemic inequalities.
Q5: What is the significance of "the problem that has no name"?
A5: This phrase encapsulated the pervasive feeling of dissatisfaction and unfulfillment experienced by many women who, outwardly appearing content, felt a deep-seated sense of something missing in their lives, highlighting the societal pressures that suppressed their aspirations.
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan, 2001-09-17 The book that changed the consciousness of a country—and the world. Landmark, groundbreaking, classic—these adjectives barely describe the earthshaking and long-lasting effects of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. This is the book that defined the problem that has no name, that launched the Second Wave of the feminist movement, and has been awakening women and men with its insights into social relations, which still remain fresh, ever since. A national bestseller, with over 1 million copies sold. |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan, 1992 This novel was the major inspiration for the Women's Movement and continues to be a powerful and illuminating analysis of the position of women in Western society___ |
| feminine mystique: Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique Daniel Horowitz, 2000 An examination of the development of Betty Friedan's feminist outlook. Horowitz (American studies, Smith College) looks at Friedan's life from her childhood in Peoria, Illinois through her wartime years at Smith College and Berkeley, to her decade-long career as a writer for two radical labor journals, the Federated Press and the United Electrical Workers' UE News. He argues that this history, combined with the fact that Friedan continued to work on behalf of many social causes after her marriage, contradicts Friedan's claim that her commitment to women's rights grew solely out of her experience as an alienated suburban housewife. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan, 2013-02-12 A 50th-anniversary edition of the trailblazing book that changed women’s lives, with a new introduction by Gail Collins. Landmark, groundbreaking, classic—these adjectives barely do justice to the pioneering vision and lasting impact of The Feminine Mystique. Published in 1963, it gave a pitch-perfect description of “the problem that has no name”: the insidious beliefs and institutions that undermined women’s confidence in their intellectual capabilities and kept them in the home. Writing in a time when the average woman first married in her teens and 60 percent of women students dropped out of college to marry, Betty Friedan captured the frustrations and thwarted ambitions of a generation and showed women how they could reclaim their lives. Part social chronicle, part manifesto, The Feminine Mystique is filled with fascinating anecdotes and interviews as well as insights that continue to inspire. This 50th–anniversary edition features an afterword by best-selling author Anna Quindlen as well as a new introduction by Gail Collins. |
| feminine mystique: A Strange Stirring Stephanie Coontz, 2011-01-04 In 1963, Betty Friedan unleashed a storm of controversy with her bestselling book, The Feminine Mystique. Hundreds of women wrote to her to say that the book had transformed, even saved, their lives. Nearly half a century later, many women still recall where they were when they first read it. In A Strange Stirring, historian Stephanie Coontz examines the dawn of the 1960s, when the sexual revolution had barely begun, newspapers advertised for perky, attractive gal typists, but married women were told to stay home, and husbands controlled almost every aspect of family life. Based on exhaustive research and interviews, and challenging both conservative and liberal myths about Friedan, A Strange Stirring brilliantly illuminates how a generation of women came to realize that their dissatisfaction with domestic life didn't't reflect their personal weakness but rather a social and political injustice. |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan, 2021-03-08 The book that sparked a feminist revolution, now with a new introduction by Gaby Hinsliff. ‘Love and children and home are good but they are not the whole world, even if most of the words now written for women pretend they are. Why should women accept this picture of a half-life, instead of a share in the whole of human destiny?’ First published in 1963, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique changed the world. Widely credited with inspiring second-wave feminism, the book spoke to women across the globe and defined ‘the problem that has no name’. It showed women that they could and should aim for a life beyond the home and the family, and that they could never find true fulfilment as long as their roles and ambitions were so narrowly defined. Based on interviews with suburban housewives, as well as researching psychology and how women were portrayed in media and advertising, The Feminine Mystique showed that many women were in fact deeply unsatisfied, but unable to find a voice to express their feelings. A powerful and ground-breaking piece of feminist writing and a historically important literary work, it laid the foundations for many feminist activists following in Friedan’s footsteps, and had significant societal and political influence on the progression of gender equality. This new edition, published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Betty Friedan’s birth, includes a new introduction by Gaby Hinsliff, which discusses the reasons why Friedan’s book still has so much to say to women today. Praise for The Feminine Mystique: 'One of the most influential non-fiction books of the twentieth century' The New York Times ‘If American women look at their lives today, they are seeing Betty Friedan’s legacy in action.’ Naomi Wolf, Time ‘Brilliant… succeeded where no other feminist writer had. She touched the lives of ordinary readers.’ The New Yorker ‘The Feminine Mystique forever changed the conversation as well as the way women view themselves. If you’ve never read it, read it now and reflect on what our mothers and grandmothers were feeling at the time. It’s a great moment to celebrate this milestone work, which fundamentally altered the course of women’s lives.’ Arianna Huffington, O, The Oprah Magazine ‘A highly readable, provocative book.’ New York Times Book Review ‘The Feminine Mystique is the Tupac Shakur of literary feminism, reincarnated at least once every decade with new insights that engender old beefs while at the same time serving as a reminder of why it’s a classic.’ The Los Angeles Review of Books |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan, 1971 |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique Elizabeth Whitaker, 2017-07-05 Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique is possibly the best-selling of all the titles analysed in the Macat library, and arguably one of the most important. Yet it was the product of an apparently minor, meaningless assignment. Undertaking to approach former classmates who had attended Smith College with her, 10 years after their graduation, the high-achieving Friedan was astonished to discover that the survey she had undertaken for a magazine feature revealed a high proportion of her contemporaries were suffering from a malaise she had thought was unique to her: profound dissatisfaction at the ‘ideal’ lives they had been living as wives, mothers and homemakers. For Friedan, this discovery stimulated a remarkable burst of creative thinking, as she began to connect the elements of her own life together in new ways. The popular idea that men and women were equal, but different – that men found their greatest fulfilment through work, while women were most fulfilled in the home – stood revealed as a fallacy, and the depression and even despair she and so many other women felt as a result was recast not as a failure to adapt to a role that was the truest expression of femininity, but as the natural product of undertaking repetitive, unfulfilling and unremunerated labor. Friedan's seminal expression of these new ideas redefined an issue central to many women's lives so successfully that it fuelled a movement – the ‘second wave’ feminism of the 1960s and 1970s that fundamentally challenged the legal and social framework underpinning an entire society. |
| feminine mystique: A Jewish Feminine Mystique? Hasia R. Diner, Shira M. Kohn, Rachel Kranson, 2010 Shira Kohn and Rachel Kranson are doctoral candidates in New York University's joint Ph. D. program in history and Hebrew and Judaic studies --Book Jacket. |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan, 2013 Contains a section of scholarship on The feminine mystique, with excerpts from many prominent historians, including Daniel Horowitz, Joanne Meyerowitz, Ruth Rosen, and Stephanie Coontz, amont others. --Back cover. |
| feminine mystique: The Second Stage Betty Friedan, 1998 Betty Friedan argues that once past the initial stages of describing and working against politcal and economic injustices, the women's movement should focus on working with men to remake private and public tasks and attitudes. |
| feminine mystique: The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off! Gloria Steinem, 2019-10-29 A beautifully illustrated collection of Gloria Steinem’s most inspirational and outrageous quotes, with an introduction and essays by the feminist activist herself “A fearless book full of passion, resolute perspective, and unbiased hope for the future.”—Janelle Monáe For decades—and especially now, in these times of crisis—people around the world have found guidance, humor, and unity in Gloria Steinem’s gift for creating quotes that offer hope and inspire action. From her early days as a journalist and feminist activist, Steinem’s words have helped generations to empower themselves and work together. Covering topics from relationships (“Many are looking for the right person. Too few are trying to be the right person.”) to the patriarchy (“Men are liked better when they win. Women are liked better when they lose. This is how the patriarchy is enforced every day.”) and activism (“Revolutions, like trees, grow from the bottom up.”), this is the definitive collection of Steinem’s words on what matters most. Steinem sees quotes as “the poetry of everyday life,” so she also has included a few favorites from friends, including bell hooks, Flo Kennedy, and Michelle Obama, in this book that will make you want to laugh, march, and create some quotes of your own. In fact, at the end of the book, there’s a special space for readers to add their own quotes and others they’ve found inspiring. The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off! is both timeless and timely. It is a gift of hope from Steinem to readers, and a book to share with friends. |
| feminine mystique: The Problem that Has No Name Betty Friedan, 2018 'What if she isn't happy - does she think men are happy in this world? Doesn't she know how lucky she is to be a woman?' The pioneering Betty Friedan here identifies the strange problem plaguing American housewives, and examines the malignant role advertising plays in perpetuating the myth of the 'happy housewife heroine'. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space. |
| feminine mystique: It Changed My Life Betty Friedan, 1998 First published in 1976, this modern feminist classic brings back years of struggle for those who were there, and recreates the past for readers who were not yet born during these struggles for opportunity and respect to which women can now feel entitled. In changing women's lives, the women's movement has changed everything. |
| feminine mystique: The 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time Robert McCrum, 2018 Beginning in 1611 with the King James Bible and ending in 2014 with Elizabeth Kolbert's 'The Sixth Extinction', this extraordinary voyage through the written treasures of our culture examines universally-acclaimed classics such as Pepys' 'Diaries', Charles Darwin's 'The Origin of Species', Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' and a whole host of additional works -- |
| feminine mystique: The End of Men Hanna Rosin, 2012-09-11 Essential reading for our times, as women are pulling together to demand their rights— A landmark portrait of women, men, and power in a transformed world. “Anchored by data and aromatized by anecdotes, [Rosin] concludes that women are gaining the upper hand. –The Washington Post Men have been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn of mankind. But Hanna Rosin was the first to notice that this long-held truth is, astonishingly, no longer true. Today, by almost every measure, women are no longer gaining on men: They have pulled decisively ahead. And “the end of men”—the title of Rosin’s Atlantic cover story on the subject—has entered the lexicon as dramatically as Betty Friedan’s “feminine mystique,” Simone de Beauvoir’s “second sex,” Susan Faludi’s “backlash,” and Naomi Wolf’s “beauty myth” once did. In this landmark book, Rosin reveals how our current state of affairs is radically shifting the power dynamics between men and women at every level of society, with profound implications for marriage, sex, children, work, and more. With wide-ranging curiosity and insight unhampered by assumptions or ideology, Rosin shows how the radically different ways men and women today earn, learn, spend, couple up—even kill—has turned the big picture upside down. And in The End of Men she helps us see how, regardless of gender, we can adapt to the new reality and channel it for a better future. |
| feminine mystique: Fountain of Age Betty Friedan, 2006-08 Betty Friedan launches a new revolution with this powerful, bestselling book breaking through the American mystique of aging as decline. Through hundreds of interviews, Friedan confronts our denial and demolishes society's compassionate contempt--to offer a vision of what can be embraced. |
| feminine mystique: Interviews with Betty Friedan Janann Sherman, 2002 Thinkers. Book jacket. |
| feminine mystique: Hood Feminism Mikki Kendall, 2020-02-25 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “The fights against hunger, homelessness, poverty, health disparities, poor schools, homophobia, transphobia, and domestic violence are feminist fights. Kendall offers a feminism rooted in the livelihood of everyday women.” —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist, in The Atlantic “One of the most important books of the current moment.”—Time “A rousing call to action... It should be required reading for everyone.”—Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More Wine A potent and electrifying critique of today’s feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in black feminism Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others? In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement, arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on reproductive rights, politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed. |
| feminine mystique: Zohar, the Book of Enlightenment Daniel Chanan Matt, 1983 This is the first translation with commentary of selections from The Zohar, the major text of the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. This work was written in 13th-century Spain by Moses de Leon, a Spanish scholar. |
| feminine mystique: Rage Becomes Her Soraya Chemaly, 2018-09-11 ***A BEST BOOK OF 2018 SELECTION*** NPR * The Washington Post * Book Riot * Autostraddle * Psychology Today ***A BEST FEMINIST BOOK SELECTION*** Refinery 29, Book Riot, Autostraddle, BITCH Rage Becomes Her is an “utterly eye opening” (Bustle) book that gives voice to the causes, expressions, and possibilities of female rage. As women, we’ve been urged for so long to bottle up our anger, letting it corrode our bodies and minds in ways we don’t even realize. Yet there are so, so many legitimate reasons for us to feel angry, ranging from blatant, horrifying acts of misogyny to the subtle drip, drip drip of daily sexism that reinforces the absurdly damaging gender norms of our society. In Rage Becomes Her, Soraya Chemaly argues that our anger is not only justified, it is also an active part of the solution. We are so often encouraged to resist our rage or punished for justifiably expressing it, yet how many remarkable achievements would never have gotten off the ground without the kernel of anger that fueled them? Approached with conscious intention, anger is a vital instrument, a radar for injustice and a catalyst for change. On the flip side, the societal and cultural belittlement of our anger is a cunning way of limiting and controlling our power—one we can no longer abide. “A work of great spirit and verve” (Time), Rage Becomes Her is a validating, energizing read that will change the way you interact with the world around you. |
| feminine mystique: The Equivalents Maggie Doherty, 2021-04-13 FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD In 1960, Harvard’s sister college, Radcliffe, announced the founding of an Institute for Independent Study, a “messy experiment” in women’s education that offered paid fellowships to those with a PhD or “the equivalent” in artistic achievement. Five of the women who received fellowships—poets Anne Sexton and Maxine Kumin, painter Barbara Swan, sculptor Marianna Pineda, and writer Tillie Olsen—quickly formed deep bonds with one another that would inspire and sustain their most ambitious work. They called themselves “the Equivalents.” Drawing from notebooks, letters, recordings, journals, poetry, and prose, Maggie Doherty weaves a moving narrative of friendship and ambition, art and activism, love and heartbreak, and shows how the institute spoke to the condition of women on the cusp of liberation. “Rich and powerful. . . . A love story about art and female friendship.” —Harper’s Magazine “Reads like a novel, and an intense one at that. . . . The Equivalents is an observant, thoughtful and energetic account.” —Margaret Atwood, The Globe and Mail (Toronto) |
| feminine mystique: When Everything Changed Gail Collins, 2009-10-14 Gail Collins, New York Times columnist and bestselling author, recounts the astounding revolution in women's lives over the past 50 years, with her usual sly wit and unfussy style (People). When Everything Changed begins in 1960, when most American women had to get their husbands' permission to apply for a credit card. It ends in 2008 with Hillary Clinton's historic presidential campaign. This was a time of cataclysmic change, when, after four hundred years, expectations about the lives of American women were smashed in just a generation. A comprehensive mix of oral history and Gail Collins's keen research -- covering politics, fashion, popular culture, economics, sex, families, and work -- When Everything Changed is the definitive book on five crucial decades of progress. The enormous strides made since 1960 include the advent of the birth control pill, the end of Help Wanted -- Male and Help Wanted -- Female ads, and the lifting of quotas for women in admission to medical and law schools. Gail Collins describes what has happened in every realm of women's lives, partly through the testimonies of both those who made history and those who simply made their way. Picking up where her highly lauded book America's Women left off, When Everything Changed is a dynamic story, told with the down-to-earth, amusing, and agenda-free tone for which this beloved New York Times columnist is known. Older readers, men and women alike, will be startled as they are reminded of what their lives once were -- Father Knows Best and My Little Margie on TV; daily weigh-ins for stewardesses; few female professors; no women in the Boston marathon, in combat zones, or in the police department. Younger readers will see their history in a rich new way. It has been an era packed with drama and dreams -- some dashed and others realized beyond anyone's imagining. |
| feminine mystique: The World Split Open Ruth Rosen, 2013-02-05 In this enthralling narrative-the first of its kind-historian and journalist Ruth Rosen chronicles the history of the American women's movement from its beginnings in the 1960s to the present. Interweaving the personal with the political, she vividly evokes the events and people who participated in our era's most far-reaching social revolution. |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique , 1974 |
| feminine mystique: An Analysis of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique Elizabeth Whitaker, 2017-07-05 In 1963’s The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan challenged the vision 1950s America had of itself as a nation of happy housewives and contented families. |
| feminine mystique: The Feminist Mystic, and Other Essays on Women and Spirituality Mary E. Giles, 1982 |
| feminine mystique: Woman's Work Lisa Frederiksen Bohannon, 2004 Betty Friedan's seminal work, The Feminine Mystique, is often credited with launching the women's rights movement. The book was published in 1963 and was informed by Betty's difficult relationship with her own mother, her training in psychology (she graduated summa cum laude from Smith College), and her experience raising three children in an unhappy marriage. Betty's unwillingness to accept the status quo led her to challenge traditional notions about women's roles and she became an outspoken leader in the feminist movement, co-founding the National Organization for Women along the way. Yet Friedan also became a lightning rod for controversy, eventually leaving NOW to pursue other interests that included helping women from other countries achieve equality and advocating for the rights of the elderly. Woman's Work: The Story of Betty Friedan presents the multi-faceted life and work of this complicated, fascinating woman, offering insight into the determination and dedication that shaped her into an icon to those who have followed in her wake. Book jacket. |
| feminine mystique: Beyond Gender Betty Friedan, 1997-10-10 Once again, Betty Friedan has challenged her readers to rethink the context within which they view both the relations of the sexes and the relations of the marketplace. |
| feminine mystique: A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf, 2024-05-30 Virginia Woolf's playful exploration of a satirical »Oxbridge« became one of the world's most groundbreaking writings on women, writing, fiction, and gender. A Room of One's Own [1929] can be read as one or as six different essays, narrated from an intimate first-person perspective. Actual history blends with narrative and memoir. But perhaps most revolutionary was its address: the book is written by a woman for women. Male readers are compelled to read through women's eyes in a total inversion of the traditional male gaze. VIRGINIA WOOLF [1882–1941] was an English author. With novels like Jacob’s Room [1922], Mrs Dalloway [1925], To the Lighthouse [1927], and Orlando [1928], she became a leading figure of modernism and is considered one of the most important English-language authors of the 20th century. As a thinker, with essays like A Room of One’s Own [1929], Woolf has influenced the women’s movement in many countries. |
| feminine mystique: Kubla Khan Samuel Coleridge, 2015-12-15 Though left uncompleted, “Kubla Khan” is one of the most famous examples of Romantic era poetry. In it, Samuel Coleridge provides a stunning and detailed example of the power of the poet’s imagination through his whimsical description of Xanadu, the capital city of Kublai Khan’s empire. Samuel Coleridge penned “Kubla Khan” after waking up from an opium-induced dream in which he experienced and imagined the realities of the great Mongol ruler’s capital city. Coleridge began writing what he remembered of his dream immediately upon waking from it, and intended to write two to three hundred lines. However, Coleridge was interrupted soon after and, his memory of the dream dimming, was ultimately unable to complete the poem. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library. |
| feminine mystique: The Femme Mystique Lesléa Newman, 1995 A celebration of the sensuality and sexuality of lesbian femmes. |
| feminine mystique: Life So Far Betty Friedan, 2006-08 At last Betty Friedan herself speaks about her life and career. With the same unsparing frankness that made The Feminine Mystique one of the most influential books of our era, Friedan looks back and tells us what it took -- and what it cost -- to change the world. Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, started the women's movement it sold more than four million copies and was recently named one of the one hundred most important books of the century. In Life So Far, Friedan takes us on an intimate journey through her life -- a lonely childhood in Peoria, Illinois salvation at Smith College her days as a labor reporter for a union newspaper in New York (from which she was dismissed when she became pregnant) unfulfilling and painful years as a suburban housewife finding great joy as a mother and writing The Feminine Mystique, which grew out of a survey of her Smith classmates and started it all. Friedan chronicles the secret underground of women in Washington, D.C., who drafted her in the early 1960s to spearhead an NAACP for women, and recounts the courage of many, including some Catholic nuns who played a brave part in those early days of NOW, the National Organization for Women. Friedan's feminist thinking, a philosophy of evolution, is reflected throughout her book. She recognized early that the women's movement would falter if institutions did not change to reflect the new realities of women's lives, and she fought to keep the movement practical and free of extremism, including man-hating. She describes candidly the movement's political infighting that brought her to the point of legal action and resulted in a long breach with fellow leaders Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug. Friedan is frank about her twenty-two-year marriage to Carl Friedan, an advertising entrepreneur. She writes about the explosive cycle of drinking, arguing, and physical battering she endured and explores her prolonged inability to leave the marriage. (They are now friends and the grandparents of nine.) Friedan was not only pivotal in the founding of NOW, she was also the driving force behind the creation of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), and the First Women's Bank and Trust Company. She made history by introducing the issue of sex discrimination as an argument against the ratification of a Supreme Court nominee. She convinced the Secretary General of the United Nations to declare 1975 the International Year of the Woman. In this volume, Friedan brings to extraordinary life her bold and contentious leadership in the movement. She lectures, writes, leads think tanks, and organizes women and men to work together in political, legal, and social battles on behalf of women's rights.--From publisher description. |
| feminine mystique: The Beauty Myth Naomi Wolf, 2009-03-17 The bestselling classic that redefined our view of the relationship between beauty and female identity. In today's world, women have more power, legal recognition, and professional success than ever before. Alongside the evident progress of the women's movement, however, writer and journalist Naomi Wolf is troubled by a different kind of social control, which, she argues, may prove just as restrictive as the traditional image of homemaker and wife. It's the beauty myth, an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society's impossible definition of the flawless beauty. |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique (50th Anniversary Edition) Betty Friedan, 2013-02-11 If you’ve never read it, read it now. —Arianna Huffington, O, The Oprah Magazine Landmark, groundbreaking, classic—these adjectives barely do justice to the pioneering vision and lasting impact of The Feminine Mystique. Published in 1963, it gave a pitch-perfect description of “the problem that has no name”: the insidious beliefs and institutions that undermined women’s confidence in their intellectual capabilities and kept them in the home. Writing in a time when the average woman first married in her teens and 60 percent of women students dropped out of college to marry, Betty Friedan captured the frustrations and thwarted ambitions of a generation and showed women how they could reclaim their lives. Part social chronicle, part manifesto, The Feminine Mystique is filled with fascinating anecdotes and interviews as well as insights that continue to inspire. This 50th–anniversary edition features an afterword by best-selling author Anna Quindlen as well as a new introduction by Gail Collins. |
| feminine mystique: Blue Angel Francine Prose, 2009-10-13 The National Book Award Finalist from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Francine Prose—now the major motion picture Submission “Screamingly funny … Blue Angel culminates in a sexual harassment hearing that rivals the Salem witch trials.” —USA Today It's been years since Swenson, a professor in a New England creative writing program, has published a novel. It's been even longer since any of his students have shown promise. Enter Angela Argo, a pierced, tattooed student with a rare talent for writing. Angela is just the thing Swenson needs. And, better yet, she wants his help. But, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Deliciously risque, Blue Angel is a withering take on today's academic mores and a scathing tale that vividly shows what can happen when academic politics collides with political correctness. |
| feminine mystique: Living a Feminist Life Sara Ahmed, 2016-12-22 In Living a Feminist Life Sara Ahmed shows how feminist theory is generated from everyday life and the ordinary experiences of being a feminist at home and at work. Building on legacies of feminist of color scholarship in particular, Ahmed offers a poetic and personal meditation on how feminists become estranged from worlds they critique—often by naming and calling attention to problems—and how feminists learn about worlds from their efforts to transform them. Ahmed also provides her most sustained commentary on the figure of the feminist killjoy introduced in her earlier work while showing how feminists create inventive solutions—such as forming support systems—to survive the shattering experiences of facing the walls of racism and sexism. The killjoy survival kit and killjoy manifesto, with which the book concludes, supply practical tools for how to live a feminist life, thereby strengthening the ties between the inventive creation of feminist theory and living a life that sustains it. |
| feminine mystique: The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan, 1923-10-18 A 50th-anniversary edition of the trailblazing book that changed women's lives, with a new Introduction by Collins. |
| feminine mystique: The Cause Eric Alterman, 2012-04-12 The definitive history of American postwar liberalism, told through the lens of those who brought it to life. Liberalism stands proudly at the center of American politics and culture. Driven by passion for social justice, tempered by respect for the difficulty of change, liberals have struggled to end economic inequality, racial discrimination, and political repression. Liberals have fueled their cause with the promise of American life and visions of national greatness, seeking to transform the White House; the halls of Congress, the courts, the worlds of entertainment, law, media, and the course of public opinion. Bestselling author, journalist, and historian Eric Alterman, together with historian Kevin Mattson, traces the history of liberal ideals through the lives and struggles of fascinating personalities. The Cause tells the remarkable story of politicians, intellectuals, visionaries, activists, and public personalities battling for the heart and soul of the nation. The first full-scale treatment of postwar liberalism, The Cause offers an epic saga driven by stories of grand aspirations, principled ambitions, tragic flaws, and the ironies of history of the people who fought for America to live up to the highest ideals of its history. |
| feminine mystique: Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism Donald T. Critchlow, 2018-06-05 Longtime activist, author, and antifeminist leader Phyllis Schlafly is for many the symbol of the conservative movement in America. In this provocative new book, historian Donald T. Critchlow sheds new light on Schlafly's life and on the unappreciated role her grassroots activism played in transforming America's political landscape. Based on exclusive and unrestricted access to Schlafly's papers as well as sixty other archival collections, the book reveals for the first time the inside story of this Missouri-born mother of six who became one of the most controversial forces in modern political history. It takes us from Schlafly's political beginnings in the Republican Right after the World War II through her years as an anticommunist crusader to her more recent efforts to thwart same-sex marriage and stem the flow of illegal immigrants. Schlafly's political career took off after her book A Choice Not an Echo helped secure Barry Goldwater's nomination. With sales of more than 3 million copies, the book established her as a national voice within the conservative movement. But it was Schlafly's bid to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment that gained her a grassroots following. Her anti-ERA crusade attracted hundreds of thousands of women into the conservative fold and earned her a name as feminism's most ardent opponent. In the 1970s, Schlafly founded the Eagle Forum, a Washington-based conservative policy organization that today claims a membership of 50,000 women. Filled with fresh insights into these and other initiatives, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism provides a telling profile of one of the most influential activists in recent history. Sure to invite spirited debate, it casts new light on a major shift in American politics, the emergence of the Republican Right. |
The Feminine Mystique - Archive.org
“The most important book of the twentieth century is The Feminine Mystique. Betty Friedan is to women what Martin Luther King, Jr., was to blacks.” —Barbara Seaman, author of Free and …
National Humanities Center
16 THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE the neurotic, unfeminine, unhappy women who wanted to be poets or physicists or presidents. They learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, …
Friedan, The Feminine Mystique - umb.edu
In the fifteen years after World War II, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuating core of contemporary American culture. Millions of women lived their …
The Feminine Mystique (Abridged) - Amphitheater Public …
In the fifteen years after World War II, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuating core of contemporary American culture. Millions of women lived their …
THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE BY BETTY FRIEDAN - Hillsdale College
build a swimming pool with their own hands; how to dress, look, and act more feminine and 15 make marriage more exciting; how to keep their husbands from dying young and their sons …
The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan - City University of New …
They were taught to pity the neurotic, unfeminine, unhappy women who wanted to be poets or physicists or presidents. They learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher …
The Feminine Mystique - Celina Schools
ABOUT THE READING Many credit Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique with launching the 1960s feminist movement. In it, she challenges traditional assumptions about women’s role in …
The Feminine Mystique - Wikipedia
The Feminine Mystique is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century, and is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States.
Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique (1963)
The Feminine Mystique - New York University
In the second half of the twentieth century in America, woman's world was confined to her own body and beauty, the charming of man, the bearing of babies, and the physical care and …
The Feminine Mystique, - Mr. Andoscia’s Classroom
In the fifteen years after World War II, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuatingcore of contemporary American culture. Millions of women
The Feminine Mystique
The Problem That Has No Name (1963) Betty Friedan
In the fifteen years after World War II, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuating core of contemporary American culture.
The Feminine Mystique: Chapter 1 The Problem that Has No …
Apr 14, 2015 · They learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political 18 rights--the independence and the opportunities that the old-fashioned feminists …
Peter Dreier: The Feminine Mystique and Women's Equality
Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique -- published 50 years ago this week, on February 19, 1963 -- catalyzed the modern feminist movement, helped forever change Americans' attitudes about …
The Feminine Mystique - Springer
The Feminine Mystique 1963 During the 1960s, Betty Friedan personified the growing anger of edu cated women. Her 1963 bestseller, The Feminine Mystique, from which this selection is …
THE CRISIS IN WOMEN'S IDENTITY REPRINTED WITH …
You yourselves deny the feminine mystique; you deny the very images of women that come at you from all sides. There are no heroines today in America, not as far as the public image is …
Microsoft Word - The Feminine Mystique Discussion …
How did Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique inspire women across the country to organize for equal rights? What were some of the rights that women began campaigning for after
Rereading Friedan's The Feminine Mystique - JSTOR
Published in 1963, The Feminine Mystique is commonly regarded both as a feminist classic and as a book which acted as a catalyst to the western feminist movement which began in the mid …
The Feminine Mystique at fifty: Relevance and limitations in ...
feminine ‘mystique’—the idea that a woman’s identity is based on her biology, her reproductive purpose, and her relational roles—and the demands of the development of individual human …
The Feminine Mystique - Wikipedia
The Feminine Mystique is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century, and is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States.
The Feminine Mystique | Summary, Significance, & Facts
Oct 5, 2024 · The Feminine Mystique, a landmark book by feminist Betty Friedan published in 1963 that described the pervasive dissatisfaction among women in mainstream American society in the post-World War II period. Learn more about the work, including its impact.
The Powerful, Complicated Legacy of Betty Friedan’s ‘The Feminine Mystique’
Feb 4, 2021 · But her name is most tied to The Feminine Mystique, the book that pushed her and other discontented housewives into the American consciousness alongside the ongoing Civil Rights Movement.
The Feminine Mystique - Teaching American History
Jul 1, 2024 · In the fifteen years after World War II, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuating core of contemporary American culture.
Feminine Mystique Definition and Background - ThoughtCo
Sep 2, 2018 · The feminine mystique is the false notion that a woman’s “role” in society is to be a wife, mother, and housewife - nothing else. The mystique is an artificial idea of femininity that says having a career and/or fulfilling one’s individual potential somehow go …
The Feminine Mystique Study Guide | Literature Guide - LitCharts
The best study guide to The Feminine Mystique on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.
Betty Friedan | National Women's History Museum
Her 1963 best-selling book, The Feminine Mystique, gave voice to millions of American women’s frustrations with their limited gender roles and helped spark widespread public activism for gender equality.
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan Plot Summary - LitCharts
Get all the key plot points of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique on one page. From the creators of SparkNotes.
'Feminine Mystique' by Betty Friedan 'Started It All' - ThoughtCo
Jan 13, 2019 · Betty Friedan explored women's unhappiness in the bestselling book "The Feminine Mystique," inspiring the women's liberation movement.
Breaking the Silence: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and …
In her groundbreaking book, *The Feminine Mystique*, she boldly declared that the image of women finding fulfillment solely as wives and mothers was a myth—a lie that kept women trapped in unfulfilling roles.
