"The Feminine Mystique" For Today's Male and Females
Sarah Lasser
Issue date: 1/25/10 Section: Entertainment
Published in 1963, Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" was, and continues to be, a staple for feminists; yet now it becomes more.
Though the book received a lot of flak in its early days, many American women bought, read, and strongly agreed with Friedan's text. Friedan explained her term "feminine mystique" as being "the mystique of feminine fulfillment." It is essentially the problem that had no name. Giving it a name, the author was quick to elucidate the solution.
Friedan claimed the problem lies in the lost identity of the housewife- mother. In marriage a woman becomes wife; in childbirth a woman becomes Mom. By ignoring the self and focusing entirely on the family alone, a married girl looses her own personal identity. When hubby goes to work and little Johnnie and Susie are off in school, the housewife-mother is left alone with herself, a person she no longer knows. Psychological, this can become disturbing for many.
Friedan does not say family is not important. She actually claims that family mealtimes are a must in a balanced household. The author simply points out that a woman needs to pursue her interests, or her passions. With her book, the idea was formed for females to balance home and career lives.
Post-World War II America was obviously a different place. Women were seen as baby-making housewives, and were raised accordingly. Though women were still going off to college after high school, the numbers of females accepted in college was on the decline. Those ladies who did attend a higher educational facility had various classes teaching them how to be better wives and mothers. However, the goal of most females who went away to school was to hunt down a nice young man to marry. The girls of the 50's spent endless days in high school trying to trap a boy, and engagements at the age of 17 was quickly becoming the norm. Once a woman became engaged, college were seen as just a waste of time. As the author points out, "fulfillment as a woman had only one definition for American women after 1949- the housewife-mother."
Though the book received a lot of flak in its early days, many American women bought, read, and strongly agreed with Friedan's text. Friedan explained her term "feminine mystique" as being "the mystique of feminine fulfillment." It is essentially the problem that had no name. Giving it a name, the author was quick to elucidate the solution.
Friedan claimed the problem lies in the lost identity of the housewife- mother. In marriage a woman becomes wife; in childbirth a woman becomes Mom. By ignoring the self and focusing entirely on the family alone, a married girl looses her own personal identity. When hubby goes to work and little Johnnie and Susie are off in school, the housewife-mother is left alone with herself, a person she no longer knows. Psychological, this can become disturbing for many.
Friedan does not say family is not important. She actually claims that family mealtimes are a must in a balanced household. The author simply points out that a woman needs to pursue her interests, or her passions. With her book, the idea was formed for females to balance home and career lives.
Post-World War II America was obviously a different place. Women were seen as baby-making housewives, and were raised accordingly. Though women were still going off to college after high school, the numbers of females accepted in college was on the decline. Those ladies who did attend a higher educational facility had various classes teaching them how to be better wives and mothers. However, the goal of most females who went away to school was to hunt down a nice young man to marry. The girls of the 50's spent endless days in high school trying to trap a boy, and engagements at the age of 17 was quickly becoming the norm. Once a woman became engaged, college were seen as just a waste of time. As the author points out, "fulfillment as a woman had only one definition for American women after 1949- the housewife-mother."
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