The Feminine Mystique is the reason that feminism is still around today, and was the precursor for many things women have today such as workplace rights, birth-control, and abortion. Betty Friedan, co-founder of National Organization for Women (NOW), speaks during the Women's Strike for Equality event in New York on Aug. 26, 1970, the 50th anniversary of women's suffrage. Feminists of the 1960s and 1970s would later say "The Feminine Mystique" was the book that “started it all.”. [24][25] An accompanying exhibit titled REACT was also on display, consisting of twenty-five pieces of artwork responding to The Feminine Mystique. While women still haven't gotten full equality, The Feminine Mystique definitely set them on the right track. Some women, however, may have been mobilized in directions that ran counter to Friedan’s intentions. The suburbs were growing exponentially and the economy was booming. "We've seen all these policy changes, we've seen incredible laws, we've seen Roe [v. Wade], we've seen the Violence Against Women Act, but we're still kind of fighting for implementation and we're still really battling the cultural battle and looking for cultural shifts. In a sea of groundbreaking feminist writing, Friedan’s book is sort of like George Clooney is to great filmmakers right now: Important. Get a discounted print subscription today. Herstory In print and in interviews, Friedan has offered a narrative of her life More recently, other scholars have pointed out that readers encountering “The Feminine Mystique” through the excerpts that appeared in women’s magazines might not have heard an entirely empowering message. This was important because it took part in encouraging women across the nation to become an individual force as well as to venture and explore options previously admonished. These custom papers should be used with proper references. As Friedan pointed out, "part of the strange newness of the problem is that it cannot be understood in terms of the age-old material problems of man: poverty, sickness, hunger, cold." Politicians began to recognize the frustrations of women due in part to Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique is widely credited for starting the Women's Liberation movement of the 1960's-1970's, a movement that has brought massive change for women in American society. [5][6] In the book, Friedan challenged the widely shared belief in the 1950s that "fulfillment as a woman had only one definition for American women after 1949—the housewife-mother. For years, Friedan toured the United States speaking about "The Feminine Mystique" and introducing audiences to her groundbreaking work and to feminism. The past few days have generated buzz about Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, inspired by the fiftieth anniversary of the book’s publication. Friedan also states that this is in contrast to the 1930s, at which time women's magazines often featured confident and independent heroines, many of whom were involved in careers. They have contempt for you. But her book has been shadowed by its share of critics ever since, including many otherwise sympathetic scholars who have doggedly chipped away at its own mystique. In 1957, Friedan was asked to conduct a survey of her former Smith College classmates for their 15th anniversary reunion; the results, in which she found that many of them were unhappy with their lives as housewives, prompted her to begin research for The Feminine Mystique, conducting interviews with other suburban housewives, as well as researching psychology, media, and advertising. "There's very seldom that you get a book that is so of the moment," says New York Times columnist Gail Collins, who was a teenager when the book first came out. But only scratching the surface of the talent in the field. "[11], Chapter 4: Friedan discusses early American feminists and how they fought against the assumption that the proper role of a woman was to be solely a wife and mother. Friedan wanted to prove that women were unsatisfied but could not voice their feelings. It came from every level that there was — this collusion to feed this message.". By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, Lasting Effects of 'The Feminine Mystique', Biography of Betty Friedan, Feminist, Writer, Activist, Quotes From Feminist Founder Betty Friedan, Simone de Beauvoir and Second-Wave Feminism, Key Events of United States Feminism During the 1960s, Our Shared Shelf: A Different Kind of Book Club, The Women's Movement and Feminist Activism in the 1960s, 27 Black American Women Writers You Should Know, B.A., English and Print Journalism, University of Southern California. This chapter concludes by declaring "We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: 'I want something more than my husband and my children and my home. Sexy. [12], Friedan originally intended to write a sequel to The Feminine Mystique, which was to be called Woman: The Fourth Dimension, but instead only wrote an article by that name, which appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal in June 1964. For each conflict, Friedan offers examples of women who have overcome it. [26], Also in 2013, to celebrate its centennial the U.S. Department of Labor created a list of over 100 Books that Shaped Work in America, which included The Feminine Mystique. She argues, "In a sense that goes beyond any woman's life, I think this is a crisis of women growing up—a turning point from an immaturity that has been called femininity to full human identity. "[6], The phrase "feminine mystique" was created by Friedan to show the assumptions that women would be fulfilled from their housework, marriage, sexual lives, and children. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. She surveyed her classmates and learned that none of them was happy with the idealized housewife role. Definition of the Feminine Mystique . Jessica Valenti is a feminist author and writer. [6], Chapter 1: Friedan points out that the average age of marriage was dropping, the portion of women attending college was decreasing and the birthrate was increasing for women throughout the 1950s, yet the widespread trend of unhappy women persisted, although American culture insisted that fulfillment for women could be found in marriage and housewifery. "We still thoroughly associate women with domesticity and keeping of the home," Rosin says. Friedan points out that this is unproven and that Margaret Mead, a prominent functionalist, had a flourishing career as an anthropologist. Friedan says that this change in education arrested girls in their emotional development at a young age, because they never had to face the painful identity crisis and subsequent maturation that comes from dealing with many adult challenges. Even so, when we talked with some young women in downtown Washington, D.C., many knew little or nothing about it. Feminists of the 1960s and 1970s would later say "The Feminine Mystique" was the book that “started it all.” Betty Friedan is my favorite feminist. "If you’ve never read it, read it now." In addition, Friedan has been criticized for focusing solely on the plight of middle-class white women, and not giving enough attention to the differing situations encountered by women in less stable economic situations, or women of other races. Friedan, who claimed she gave up a prestigious Ph.D. fellowship in psychology after a boyfriend said it would threaten their relationship, spent years in the New York Public Library, digging as deeply into the theories of Freud, Margaret Mead, A. H. Maslow and David Riesman as into the women’s magazines she blasted for perpetuating the mythology of the “happy housewife.”. Betty Friedan, co-founder of National Organization for Women (NOW), speaks during the Women's Strike for Equality event in New York on Aug. 26, 1970, the 50th anniversary of women's suffrage. "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan, published in 1963, is often seen as the beginning of the women’s liberation movement. At 50, Does 'Feminine Mystique' Still Roar? [22], In addition to its contribution to feminism, The Feminine Mystique related to many other coinciding movements. These days, many people read it in college — often in women's studies classes.

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