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Saya · 12-19-2009, 09:18 PM

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (I cracked, but again I'm pretty sure no one would get it for me, pretty sure I'm getting fiction or Buddhist books.)

Its sad to read how much pressure was put on women to become wives and mothers and expect nothing more out of life, and I didn't know that it actually got worse after World War Two, before then employment outside the home and higher education was more common, the Emancipated Woman was more common as a character of fiction and an ideal. It talks about how housewives under this ideal became depressed and felt guilty for wanting more, and how it was the problem without a name. Its disgusting to read how people blamed them and their education for ever wanting more, saying it was their fault for not living up to their femininity, saying that career women emasculated their husbands and wrecked havoc on their families.

It was pretty revolutionary in its time (1963) but the preface she wrote in 1997 was depressing to read too. Since Clinton was in office she must have felt good about the state for women and basically said how wonderful women have it now, I stopped reading it when she said that abortion is now established as a protected right and will become a non issue very shortly (remember, 1997) since birth control is far more effective. Yeah, about that >.> Wonder what she thought of the Bush years, but sadly she died in 2006 so we can't ask what she thinks of Tillier's assassination or how **** victims were and still are charged for their **** kits.

Also she ignores women of minority and working class women a lot, who basically always had to work outside the home, but otherwise, still a really interesting read.

12-19-2009, 09:18 PM	#2470
Saya Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 9,548	The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (I cracked, but again I'm pretty sure no one would get it for me, pretty sure I'm getting fiction or Buddhist books.) Its sad to read how much pressure was put on women to become wives and mothers and expect nothing more out of life, and I didn't know that it actually got worse after World War Two, before then employment outside the home and higher education was more common, the Emancipated Woman was more common as a character of fiction and an ideal. It talks about how housewives under this ideal became depressed and felt guilty for wanting more, and how it was the problem without a name. Its disgusting to read how people blamed them and their education for ever wanting more, saying it was their fault for not living up to their femininity, saying that career women emasculated their husbands and wrecked havoc on their families. It was pretty revolutionary in its time (1963) but the preface she wrote in 1997 was depressing to read too. Since Clinton was in office she must have felt good about the state for women and basically said how wonderful women have it now, I stopped reading it when she said that abortion is now established as a protected right and will become a non issue very shortly (remember, 1997) since birth control is far more effective. Yeah, about that >.> Wonder what she thought of the Bush years, but sadly she died in 2006 so we can't ask what she thinks of Tillier's assassination or how ** victims were and still are charged for their ** kits. Also she ignores women of minority and working class women a lot, who basically always had to work outside the home, but otherwise, still a really interesting read.