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Summary Of The Feminine Mystique

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In “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan, she analyzes through her research that highly educated, intelligent suburban housewives like her, found themselves discontent and dissatisfied with their lives. Throughout the book, she analyzes women’s identities, femininity, the sexualization of women, gender roles, and most importantly- the dehumanization of the female existence in our society.
Friedan and many other suburban housewives had everything a woman in the 1950’s was supposed to have—a loving husband, great children, financial security, and a beautiful house in the suburbs—but she and many other women continued to feel like they weren’t completely satisfied. In those times, society had normalized the perfect housewife ideal that a fulfilled …show more content…

The reader is challenged to look into the lives of women and their satisfaction with life in the 1950s and 1960s. “The problem that has no name,” a feeling of discontent and dissatisfaction rooted deep into society's standards for women. Friedan desperately looked for an answer for the problem with no name. At a time when being a housewife was championed, women found themselves getting married and raising children before they were 25. Girls began to “go steady” at the age of 13 and married by the age of 17 or 18. The culture of the nation told women that their ultimate goal was to cheerfully cook, clean, and serve her family. Women that pursued careers rather than family were pitied and feared, described as unfeminine and perhaps even neurotic. The issue of femininity and what it meant by society's standard stretched as far as to affect women politically, socially, economically, and it even went as far as to affect women's healthcare. “In a New York hospital, a woman had a nervous breakdown because she couldn't breastfeed her baby. In other hospitals, women dying of cancer refused a drug which research proved might save their lives: its side effects were said to be unfeminine.” (Friedan 1963, 10) The idea of femininity is a social construct that oppresses women into believing that

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Susan Oliver writes an exceptional biography that describes in detail the life, success, struggles and failures of Betty Friedan. From her childhood as a divergent American-Jew living in Peoria, Illinois to being an outstanding student and writer in school, finding her path as a strong feminist at Smith College, her struggles as a mother and wife to mothering the second feminist movement. Susan Oliver explored all the factors that contributed to Betty Friedan’s strong private and public persona. Betty Friedan, a driving force of the second feminist movement, is barely recognized for the emancipation of women. Mostly known as the author of the Feminine Mystique, Susan Oliver made sure to demonstrate that Betty Friedan was more than a mere

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Betty Friedan’s writing, “The Feminine Mystique,” explores the perplexity and determined purpose of the “woman,” that existed in the 19th century. Friedan, an activist and feminist, sought to determine the core reason as to why such an astounding amount of American women, privately recounted feelings of depression and desperation in their lives and purposes. Friedan’s primary argument in explaining the reason for the 19th century women to report unhappiness and despair, was her argument that women were forcefully shaped by intense societal pressures that told her what her purpose was. Pressures from husbands, the media, and society, shaped the 19th century women to believe that she was to be a housewife and mother before all, her main purpose

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Since the beginning of time, women have been represented as a sexualised identity. All women were expected to cook, clean and care for their husbands while still having to look pretty. The article written by Vanessa Martins Lamb, “The 1950’s and the 1960’s and the American Woman”, uses language devices to convey the message that women in the 50’s were indeed represented as a sexualised identity and stereotypical gender roles were significant in society. The author described the jobs a married woman had to do in order to be the perfect housewife, “have dinner ready, prepare yourself, prepare the children, minimize all noise, be happy to see him, listen to him, make the evening his”, puts emphasis on the fact that all of the woman’s duties

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In her essay, “The Importance of Work,” from The Feminine Mystique published in 1963, Betty Friedan confronts American women’s search for identity. Throughout the novel, Betty Friedan breaks new ground, concocting the idea that women can discover personal fulfillment by straying away from their original roles. Friedan ponders on the idea that The Feminine Mystique is the cause for a vast majority of women during that time period to feel confined by their occupations around the house; therefore, restricting them from discovering who they are as women. Friedan’s novel is well known for creating a different kind of feminism and rousing various women across the nation.

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In the 1960s women were subjected to follow a trail, wed in her early twenties and start a family and dedicate her life to house chores. In 1962, Betty Friedan was a female that created the feminist movement. She wrote a book called “The Feminine Mystique”. The book was about the hindrance and misery of a group of school-cultured housewives who felt imprisoned. Friedan dumbfounded the nation by opposing the believed perception, that housewives were satisfied to help their families and by calling on women to pursue serenity in work outside the home.

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In the 1970’s women were expected to stay at home and take care of the household. They were usually not expected to further their education, but instead take care of the children or tend to their husbands’ needs. In 1972 Judy Brady decided to let the readers of Ms. Magazine know how she felt about her “duties”. In her short essay, “Why I Want a Wife,” Brady uses pathos to connect and appeal to the reader’s emotions while explaining why she wants a wife.

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To End Stereotypical Ideas of Femininity Living the life of a woman is not as easy as it seems. Everyone often expects a woman to be dependent, passive, or elegant. More so, people expect young girls to stay at home, indulging themselves with books, or playing with other girls, rather than sports. Not only that, women before the 1940’s barely had rights. Females did not have the right to vote or to work in certain jobs, like law or medicine before the mid 1900’s.

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In the 1960s women were limited in almost every aspect from their work place to their families. During this time period about 38% of women who worked mostly occupied the jobs as teachers, nurse, or secretaries. In 1962 a women by the name of Betty Friedan wrote a book called “The Feminine Mystique”. This book focused on college educated housewives who felt trapped in the system. Friedan shocked the world by contradicting the role of what a housewife is supposed to do.

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Thesis: Betty Friedan’s novel “The Feminine Mystique” was able to bring out many changes within American society during the 1960’s due the release of her novel which changed the perspectives of others who would not bat an eye. Main Points: improved the lives of many women in America during the era, brought out the injustices of housewives to the public light, and questioned society’s view of gender stereotypes Body Main

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In fact, it was thought to be odd and unsettling for women to work or attend college.” The role of women in the 1950s was a society-endorsing template that all

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Written by Betty Friedan, the book is highly associated with the revolutions that led to the women liberation movements. The chapter on the “Problem that has No Name,” explains the dilemma of women and the challenges they faced

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In “I Want a Wife,” an essay by Judy Brady, the author argues that the roles of a wife are unfair and more demanding than a husband 's, thereby they are treated as lesser than a man. Brady supports her claim by, first, introducing herself as a wife, showing her empirical knowledge; secondly, cataloging the unreasonable expectations of a wife; finally ending the essay with an emotional and thought-provoking statement, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” Brady’s purpose is to expose the inequality between the roles of a husband and of a wife in order to show that women do not belong to men and to persuade women to take action and spread feminism. Based on the sarcastic tone in “I Want a Wife,” Brady was writing to feminists in the 1960s in order to rally them to create change.

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