At fourteen to twenty weeks after conception, a fetus is assigned a sex: they are either male or female. Sex has no strings attached initially — no defined roles or expectations outside of the rules regarding procreation, which inevitably sets men and women apart. Even after birth, it takes several months for infants to register the gender roles and still their gender identity is fluid, shifting with interests and outward appearances. It takes nearly half of their childhood for children to conform or identify as a specific gender while the remaining fluidity acts as a guiding post for what is acceptable for a specific gender and not for another. Betty Friedan confronts the age old argument of “anatomy is destiny” head-on in her text The Feminine
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As Friedan suggests in The Feminine Mystique; “They are chains made up of mistaken ideas and misinterpreted facts, of incomplete truths and unreal choices. They are not easily seen and not easily shaken off” (23). The destiny of a woman without her consent or her knowledge had been decided from the moment her sex was determined — she was a woman and therefore, she was a mother and a wife. However, hardly anyone discussed the fact that much of the arguments which kept women in the home were often unfounded in actual science or constructive thought. Prejudice, preference, and preconceived notions took over what should have been a choice women could make without fear of insult or backlash. They could, but generally preferred not to, look beyond the home, beyond childbirth, beyond marriage. They feared what would happen should they look beyond the home and find meaning beyond motherhood, after all the women’s magazines painted a dark future for children and society should the mother become invested in other activities. “No other dream was possible” for many women who had experienced life outside of motherhood because as society began to reassert that women should be in the home, companies began to jump onto the bandwagon (Friedan 19). For the new generation though, “this was the only dream” …show more content…
Friedan asks, “What is missing from the image which shapes the American woman’s pursuit of fulfillment as a wife and mother? What is missing from the image that mirrors and creates the identity of women in America today?” (25). Reality is what has been missing from the gender roles. The answer seems plain when Friedan approaches it in the terms she does, laying out the charges that society has laid against women who are unable to fulfill the role of an ideal woman. Society made it seem that the only destiny a woman could hope for was what her anatomy could fulfill. She was intrinsically designed to bear children, so she must solely desire such a pursuit and only find fulfillment through it. If she struggles to find her purpose in this role, she can find it in being a wife because certainly, sex can fill any void created by the role of motherhood. If she still cannot find her purpose, she will find it in becoming a homemaker with all of the creativity promised within the bounds of a kitchen and tied to a credit card. However, no one ever dared ask what it meant when a woman could not find her fulfillment in any of the destined roles. After all, this was the only dream a woman could ever hope to have and seeking fulfillment outside of the home was denying that her anatomy chose her destiny, which was expressly discouraged. The feminine mystique placated the distressed women with empty
As Friedan suggests in The Feminine Mystique; “They are chains made up of mistaken ideas and misinterpreted facts, of incomplete truths and unreal choices. They are not easily seen and not easily shaken off” (23). The destiny of a woman without her consent or her knowledge had been decided from the moment her sex was determined — she was a woman and therefore, she was a mother and a wife. However, hardly anyone discussed the fact that much of the arguments which kept women in the home were often unfounded in actual science or constructive thought. Prejudice, preference, and preconceived notions took over what should have been a choice women could make without fear of insult or backlash. They could, but generally preferred not to, look beyond the home, beyond childbirth, beyond marriage. They feared what would happen should they look beyond the home and find meaning beyond motherhood, after all the women’s magazines painted a dark future for children and society should the mother become invested in other activities. “No other dream was possible” for many women who had experienced life outside of motherhood because as society began to reassert that women should be in the home, companies began to jump onto the bandwagon (Friedan 19). For the new generation though, “this was the only dream” …show more content…
Friedan asks, “What is missing from the image which shapes the American woman’s pursuit of fulfillment as a wife and mother? What is missing from the image that mirrors and creates the identity of women in America today?” (25). Reality is what has been missing from the gender roles. The answer seems plain when Friedan approaches it in the terms she does, laying out the charges that society has laid against women who are unable to fulfill the role of an ideal woman. Society made it seem that the only destiny a woman could hope for was what her anatomy could fulfill. She was intrinsically designed to bear children, so she must solely desire such a pursuit and only find fulfillment through it. If she struggles to find her purpose in this role, she can find it in being a wife because certainly, sex can fill any void created by the role of motherhood. If she still cannot find her purpose, she will find it in becoming a homemaker with all of the creativity promised within the bounds of a kitchen and tied to a credit card. However, no one ever dared ask what it meant when a woman could not find her fulfillment in any of the destined roles. After all, this was the only dream a woman could ever hope to have and seeking fulfillment outside of the home was denying that her anatomy chose her destiny, which was expressly discouraged. The feminine mystique placated the distressed women with empty