...Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique Angelina C. Cosentino JRNL B1 Media and Society – Professor Garcia April 9th 2014 In 1957, Friedan was asked to conduct a survey of her former Smith College classmates for their 15th anniversary reunion; the results, in which she found that many of them were unhappy with their lives as housewives, prompted her to begin research for The Feminine Mystique, conducting interviews with other suburban housewives, as well as researching psychology, media, and advertising. She originally intended to publish an article on the topic, not a book, but no magazine would publish her article. In Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan wrote about women's inequality from men to women's equality to men. She also wrote about women accepting the inequality to women fighting for equality. Friedan comes across as a woman with strong beliefs that filled her book with a lot of effort and information. Her writing style proves that she has been in a feminist movement and that she has a passion for every word she put into this book. She also writes in a way that makes a person interested in what her beliefs are. Friedan has a mass amount of information to prove every point she has. She once stated that “Feminine Mystique” was her favorite work to write about. Her writing style proves each point she responds to. In Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan is attempting to persuade the reader to understand what she is trying to say. She wants people to know exactly what occurred...
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...Potter 1 Rebecca Potter Gray Section 4975 12 May 2015 Primary Source Analysis on The Feminine Mystique The Feminine Mystique is the title of a book written by Betty Friedan who has also founded The National Organization for Women (NOW) to help US women gain equal rights. She describes the "Feminine Mystique" as the heightened awareness of the expectations of women and how each woman has to fit a certain role as a little girl, an uneducated and unemployed teenager, and finally as a wife and mother who is happy to clean the house and cook things all day. After World War II, a lot of women's organizations began to appear with the goal of bringing the issues of equal rights into the limelight. The Feminine Mystique also seems to come from her determination to locate the deeper causes of the frustration that she and women like her feel. There are countless stereotypes mentioned in the book. The stereotypes even come down to the color of a woman's hair. Many women wish that they could be blonde because that was the ideal hair color. In The Feminine Mystique, Friedan writes that "across America, three out of every ten women dyed their hair blonde " (182). This serves as an example of how there is/was such a push for women to fit a certain mold which is portrayed as the role of women. Blacks were naturally excluded from the notion of ideal women and they suffered additional discrimination which was even greater than that which the white women suffered from. In addition...
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...term woman’s role. I disagree with their theory of woman existing only for their analysis of sex-roles in the social structure of the United States because it contemplates no alternative for a woman other than the role of a housewife. When Betty Friedan wrote this novel on the Feminine Mystique it was in the 1950’s when woman were looked upon much differently then they are now. The Feminine Mystique was actually one start to the woman’s right movement and motivated woman nation wide to stand up for their freedom. Women were automatically given this image of a housewife in this time period and felt imprisoned, as if they had no other choice. Women sought for absolute equality between sexes and freedom to start any career they dreamt of. It is amazing how differently human beings thought of each other just a little over 50 years ago. Today people would never even consider a women’s only role to be a housewife. Women today accomplish just as much as men do and have practically the exact same careers equivalent to men. I find it hard to believe that functionalism was even believed to be a possible theory for woman just because they have so much more respect and freedom today then they did when The Feminine Mystique was...
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...whole think? While most of the men were off fighting in the war, women were the only ones left to the work the men had left behind. Propaganda at one time discouraged women from competing with men for jobs, but when all the men went to war, women were then encouraged to join the workforce. These women felt they were greatly contributing to their country and families. While their husbands were earning low military pay, the working women were earning an additional income to help their families. Society believed that women should contribute to the war as much they could to help their men survive overseas. 3) What role did mass media play during the 1950s and 1960s in regard to supporting or undermining the “feminine mystique”? At first, the media undermined the feminine mystique. In magazines (edited by women) they showed women who had careers and who made their own way and had goals. That changed when men started coming home from the war. These men wanted a comfortable domestic lifestyle with their wives working at home. They became the editors of the magazines, and started portraying women as loving housewives...
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...Betty Friedan – The Mother of Feminism Betty Friedan was born as Bettye Goldstein. She was born in Peoria, Illinois on February 4, 1921. Harry Goldstein, her father, emigrated from Russia in the 1880s in which he built himself a successful jewelry business in the United States (Parry, 2010). Miriam Horwitz, his wife and her mother, was the daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, who actually was unable to attend Smith College due to her parents’ refusal (Parry, 2010). At the fact that her mother was not able to complete her dream of school and education, her mother would continually push for her to do well in her academics because she knew the potential her daughter had. However, even though she saw her potential, she knew that her daughter’s Jewish upbringing would be her hindrance, but she continued for her to strive on and was not ready to give up and surrender to how things were. Therefore, Betty’s rebuttal was always there from the beginning. Her Jewish upbringing caused Betty to experience many blunders along her way. In her high school located in Peoria, Illinois, Jews were not welcome in sororities or fraternities, which had truly played a detrimental effect on her because they played a big role at her school (Selle, 1998). Even though her academic successes were stellar, she was continually shunned upon due to her ethnicity and background. Not only was Betty a spectacular student, but also she was also a writer, poet, and the founder of a literary (Selle, 1998). But...
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...A Women’s Civil Right The speech ”A Women’s Civil Right” was written in 1969 and the feminist author Betty Friedan delivered it. Betty Friedan was a proponent of the modern women’s movement and claimed that women in 1969 and onwards should not be trapped in the stereotypical housewife role. Friedan was convinces that social barriers in the society kept women imprisoned in “the housewife trap”. She wanted women to have better career opportunities, introduce equality with men and to eliminate the illusion of “the happy housewife”. This specific speech announces that abortion should be a part of a women’s civil right. Betty Friedan singles out women to be the invisible minority in America. The invisible women in the American society are the ones who take an active share in the important resolution of the government and not the women who take care of the domestic duties. Friedan compares the invisibility of forward-looking women to the Afro-American permanent residents in America. For many years, the Afro-American people in the U.S. have been the invisible section of the population in the Southern states. Racial segregation in America became a crucial part of life until the segregation legally ended in 1964 because of the Civil Rights Act. The blacks were in those days invisible according to their voting rights. The voting rights of blacks were systematically restricted because the black’s voting papers did not manage to be registered. Many Afro-American were killed because...
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...weather man or women, have been enticed by the drama or comedy of modern media. In his article, “Gendered television: femininity”, Fiske discusses categorization of shows and their viewers into masculine and feminine groups. He uses the story lines and characters of soap operas to display how they cater to the feminine group. Fiske closely examines six characteristics of almost all soap operas and connects them to society’s feminine associations. In addition, he examines the effects of these soap operas on its female audience. The six characteristics Fiske uses are: disruption, deferment and process, sexuality and empowerment, excess, plenitude and polysemy, and the feminine as decentered. Fish talks about how family disruptions that occur within soap operas are aimed at feminine viewers. He states examples of extra-marital sex and family problems, and the way that only women can solve them, as giving women more power than men. It is this disruption that women viewers can identify with. All of the other characteristics of soap operas that Fiske mentions, like disruption, give women empowerment, self-esteem and self-confidence about their femininity. Therefore, women are more attracted to soap operas. Fiske uses these ideas to support his theory that shows characterize feminine and masculine in order to target a specific gender. Another piece of evidence Fiske uses is the sexual empowerment that soap operas provided for women. Fiske cites Davies when he explains the soap operas...
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...I think that there is some music that is naturally more feminine because in my opinion more feminine music is softer and gentler. Feminine music has more soothing qualities and sometimes more motivating tones to the piece. For example, when a man sings Respect, the song has a more blues feel and has the themes of disillusionment, infidelity, and love on the rocks. While when Aretha Franklin sings the song it has the theme of the women make the money and they take charge of the domestic life. I think that when a man sings a song versus a woman singing a song different themes are shown because of the differences of what a man goes through in his daily life versus what a woman goes through in her daily life. I don’t think that there are some...
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...Women’s History of “Growing Up” In the past woman were supposed to be pure, innocent, well mannered; a real lady. The list of things they could do was very short and on the contrary the list of things they could not do was too long. It was not the fact that they could not succeed if they tried that keep them away from participating in a lot of activities, it was just that they were not supposed to take part in those activities. But, as everything changes within time in history this also changed. The way the society sees a women as well as the way a women sees herself changed dramatically over the past years. While this change was happening even the most intimate facts about a girl’s life as well as her body was exposed to the public over the years. And one of these facts is maybe the most important change a girl undergoes in her life, menstruation. This natural incident that every woman has to go through eventually has never been made public as much as it now. We see commercials on the TV for sanitary napkins, hear people talk about it casually on the streets and we hear it getting mentioned in movies, songs, TV shows and mothers talk about it openly with their daughters. Menstruation is seen as such a natural thing that no one has any shame talking about it anymore, which is a huge difference from how it was in the past. Just 80 years ago it was such an big issue that even woman had trouble talking about it among themselves even behind closed doors. It was...
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...as far as sexual relationships, men decided when, where and how. When courageous women were bold enough to speak out about being the inferior gender, and developing organizations that addressed the issue, as well as writing books about it, the idea of women finally having more freedom was appealing and became popular very quick. Organizations were formed promoting Women's liberation, and some are still in existence today. National Organization for Women, commonly known as NOW, was founded in 1966 and is still in existence today. This organization's motto was "to take action, to achieve equality of women." One of the co-founders of the organization was a lady named Betty Friedan. Ms. Friedan was the author of a book called The Feminine Mystique (A.W. 1976). Ms. Friedan was a woman that was not afraid to voice her opinion on anything for jobs to sex, and these are things that women had wanted to do for years, but just did not know how. Because of her brazen and bold conversations, she instantly became famous, and when interviewed by the New York Times, she told them she received thousands of letters from women, basically saying they felt the same way she did about being confined to conventional roles, instead of being able to work and do other things. She also desired to write other books to inspire women, but got caught up in the NOW movement and did not have the time. The 1960s and 1970s were the...
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...The Heterosexual Feminine Beauty: Construction, Resistance, and Identity The concept of feminine beauty is dynamic and multi-dimensional. The United States’ mainstream, however, has created an ideal. Currently, long straight hair, petite yet well endowed with curves, among other traits, define the idealized relatively fictitious heterosexual feminine image. Bodies are malleable. Throughout this paper, malleability will be defined as the ability to sculpt the human body like an object. The question is: who controls the sculptor? Often the media, societal pressures, and capitalist incentives heavily influence, if not dictate heterosexual feminine beauty, but there are exceptions. Since the body can be crafted through cosmetics, surgery, and exercise, the pursuit of a better or perfect body is seemingly possible. In reality, achieving the perfect body is a stretch because the target ideal continues to evolve become less humanly possible. These conforming pressures separate body from identity. They impose a beauty image that limits one’s agency and self-worth, but at the same time present an opportunity for redefining...
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...1) Describe the post-WWII frustrations felt by women such as Betty Friedan. 2) During the era of “Rosie the Riveter”, what gains did women make in the workforce? How did these women feel about themselves and their contributions? What did society as a whole think? 3) What role did mass media play during the 1950s and 1960s in regard to supporting or undermining the “feminine mystique”? 4) Which television heroine -- Alice, Lucy, or Miss Brooks -- came the closest to TRULY overcoming the feminine mystique, and elaborate on that heroine’s situation and relationship to the men in her life. 1)Describe the post-WWII frustrations felt by women such as Betty Friedan Betty Friedan and other women were frustrated about their roles as women in society and in the household. Many women weren’t pleased being the typical housewife, they wanted to be someone and have their own identity. When women started working during WWII they found the heroine they wanted for themselves. After the war, most women stopped working and went back to being housewives. Betty Friedan was frustrated at this and didn’t comprehend why women stopped working. 2) During the era of “Rosie the Riveter”, what gains did women make in the workforce? How did these women feel about themselves and their contributions? What did society as a whole think? While most of the men were out in the field battling war, women were the only ones left to the do the work the men had left without employment. Advertising at one...
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...glides through your wavy hair. Gorgeous, shiny shells are washed along the shoreline by the rippling of the water. This moment is absolutely breathtaking, and you cannot help to feel amazing in your white, strappy bikini. But suddenly, you are woken up from this magnificent dream and violently brought back to reality. You can no longer sit and enjoy this heavenly view, especially in that white bikini. The time has come…to change your tampon. Tampon commercials have become dull and misleading. The concept of that “time of the month” is now construed to be a glorious time, filled with love and beauty. Dancing, exercising, or running along the beach wearing white is just some of the many aspects of the hundreds of unrealistic commercials for feminine products. Fortunately, there is a new, daring brand that emphasizes the key trait of being honest and realistic. The Kotex brand brings a fresh life to tampon advertisements, giving the viewers a sarcastic spin on the authenticity of a woman’s menstrual cycle. The “U” by Kotex commercial is aimed towards younger women in their college years. A large amount of college women are looking for the truth; many are sick and drained by the impractical television commercials. There is without a doubt not one college girl that embodies complete perfection. So why...
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...husbands were away. In the Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan felt unhappy just like the women. She felt that women were only encouraged to be housewives and they wanted more than that. Physically and mentally the women were a wreck because they had to support there family psychically and mentally as well as dealing with their own depression and situations at home. During the Rosie the Riverter era women worked in factories which was viewed as a more masculine job. The women gained income from working in the factories and were able to support their family while their husband was away. The women felt good about their contributions because they felt equal now to men because they can work and do the same job any men would do. They were not depressed any more and when their husband would return from the war they were doing financially alright rather than struggling and feeling saddened until their arrival. Society's opinion towards women working masculine jobs viewed by some as something temporarily and when the husband's returned from the war it would be over and the women can just go back to being house wives and taking care of the children. But others viewed what the women was doing as normal and good for them some said "If a women can you use an electric mixer than they can learn to operate a drill." No matter the negative and positive feed back society had on the women's jobs most continued to work in factories. Mass Media's role during the feminine mystique was while the men were...
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...America today is a lot different than centuries ago. One of the most aspects that changed the most in particular is women. Liberty, career, freedom to vote, and freedom of ones’ body are the main points of contrast. In today's society, women are far more liberated than they were hundreds of years ago, when compared to the concept of the conservative women in the 1800’s. Throughout history, the fate of women has been greatly centered on domestic work. Women remained indoors, producing clothing, preparing and preserving food, and doing other, what would be called today, “house work”. Society has generally figured that women should be responsible for work in the home over anything else. Such a strongly embedded mindset has affected the activities in which women have been able to participate. Education and work outside of the home have been areas that many women have been unable to access in society because social norms have dictated that women should focus on domestic work. However, these women have deviated outside the norms of society. Through their dedication and determination, they have changed the way women are perceived – making them all incredible and extraordinary women who shaped America. Over the years women have been pushing for the same equality as men. Women are typically looked down upon and are ignored when it comes to standing up for their rights. In the 1960s an organization called the National Organization for Women was established. This main focus...
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