The Feminine Mystique

Cordeiro World Civilizations Civilizations 21 December, 2016 Betty Friedan Betty Friedan’s inspiring contributions to feminism are very important to understanding women’s history. Her view of the "The Problem With No Name" is from her book “The Feminine Mystique”. it is when a housewife feels empty, and asks herself “Is this all I have to look forward to?”. Friedan has experienced this herself, too. When she wrote her famous book, she wanted to show her research and analysis of other…

women such as Betty Friedan, shed light on women being unhappy with the societal roles they were forced into. She did this through her book, The Feminine Mystique. Margaret Sanger, who created birth control during the first wave of feminism,…

sexism, the cause of racism within the women’s movement. Black women could not have been apart of the women’s movement. Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism, is universally seen as a response to, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, a book about middle-class white women. The Feminine Mystique neglected minority women with lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and hooks calls Friedan out on this lack of information. Although, sexism and racism had blurred the understanding of a colored woman,…

seen as “a perfect lie" (Tyree 33), since the “concept of the family” has already been “pulverized beyond recognition” (Tyree 35) by 1960. Additionally, her domestic situation in the show resembles one of the first sentences in Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique: “As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, […] ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, […] lay beside her husband at night-- she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question-- 'Is this all?” (Friedan 1). This citation…

However, as women’s roles were being questioned by feminists who were not associated with pre-War women’s groups, like Betty Friedan, a spark was ignited. These women questioned every aspect of society, including the legal system and society’s attitudes toward them, but most importantly they demanded that something be done. The demands these women made became the fire that fuelled further activism in the 1960’s, which led directly to the 1970’s Women’s Movement. The fact is that World War…

vastly impacted gender roles. The more conservative a time period, the more strict role the female gender has to follow. For example, In the excerpt from “The Feminine Mystique” written by Betty Friedan, the women in the 1950’s were supposed to feel completely fulfilled and happy by tending to their husband and household needs. Being Feminine, was of the utmost importance, and women more often than…

in the Supreme Court in 1973. Betty Friedan published the book Feminine Mystique that attacked the popular notion that women during this time could only find fulfillment through childbearing and homemaking. The book described the problems of middle-class American women and the fact that women were being denied equality with men. It said that women were kept from reaching their full capacities. The impact of the book Feminine mystique was that it ignited the contemporary women's movement.…

Women are strong in today's society, but they have experienced many challenges in fighting the right that they should deserve. A couple decade ago, women did not have the right to be equal as men. They were discriminated by men and had no rights for protection. The society thought men should go work and women should stay home to do housework. Until the 1960s, more women started to stand up to fight for their rights, because they thought men and women should be treated equally and deserve the…

Muriel Fox As I’ve stated in many previous assignments, I believe hearing personal stories much better conveys what people had gone through to get what they wanted. These videos were no different. From our readings and lectures, we knew that women were to only be secretaries, teachers, etc. We learned about NOW, about how the ERA never did get ratified, and even more. These videos really captured the emotions of the time, especially when Muriel Fox was talking about the ERA. You can just sense…

about it. Joe thinks she should not have gone to university: “She gets the idea she has a mind, her professors pay attention to what she has to say, they treat her like a thinking human being” (296). This, Joe explains to Marian, is against her “feminine role” which “demands passivity” (ibid). His solution to this problem is “maybe women shouldn 't go to university at all”…