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Reconsiderations: Betty Friedan's 'The Feminine Mystique'

Submitted by Richard S. Wheeler, Sep 20, 2008 13:48

In the 40s and 50s and 60s my mother found a rich and fulfilling life in various women's clubs. She and her friends heard lectures, engaged in public service, and continued their education. It was not a world of domestic slavery or job-holding. There was a whole universe open to most middle-class women. I wonder whether Friedan was aware of that universe.


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I agree that Christina Hoff Sommers has a good point in this article. However, would a milder, more even handed... [MORE]

cogsciandtheworld.blogspot.com 

Sep 24, 2008 00:12

I avoided politics and feminists while I was working my way through my advanced degrees. Since then, I have only... [MORE]

Wanda 

Sep 22, 2008 15:20

Feminism will destroy itself, in the end. That's what the number say. Abortion and birth control, brought in by feminists,... [MORE]

Tim Bitts 

Sep 22, 2008 12:18

Denise Banker, well-said, also. I have been entrenched in academia for over ten years now, as a teacher and now... [MORE]

Helene 

Sep 21, 2008 22:57

Not being female but as a human being, I do not hesitate to express my views. Ms Friedan comes across... [MORE]

Patrick MacKinnon 

Sep 21, 2008 12:52

I agree with most of Ms. Sommers' statements, and would add only that, on top of the self-hate (and misogyny)... [MORE]

Denise Banker 

Sep 20, 2008 16:18

As a male, my biggest problem with Friedan is her singular focus on the female mystique. Men have been just... [MORE]

mike malski 

Sep 20, 2008 14:29

In the 40s and 50s and 60s my mother found a rich and fulfilling life in various women's clubs. She...

Richard S. Wheeler 

Sep 20, 2008 13:48

bravo christina sommers. Having spent much of my life in the academy, i have observed the havoc wrought by feminist... [MORE]

robert martin 

Sep 20, 2008 12:29

I'm seeking email/oral history interviews on this topic. I'm a historian working on a book on postwar domesticity and feminism... [MORE]

jessica.weiss@csueastbay.edu 

Sep 18, 2008 18:38

I was raising my children in the 70s and by then the womens movement had morphed into an angry rant.... [MORE]

Oakley 

Sep 18, 2008 02:01

Will Sommers put her money where her mouth is and give up her career to stay home? Here's hoping. [MORE]

Connie Boyd 

Sep 17, 2008 22:06

Not being female, I hesitate to comment on the book or challenges women face at home or the workplace. I... [MORE]

Harlan 

Sep 17, 2008 20:25

Victim feminists now own the Republican Party. Christina Hoff Sommers and her crowd have lost...assuming they had not wanted this... [MORE]

Jack Sanderson 

Sep 17, 2008 18:01

Liberal feminism is not ecologically self-sustaining -- which is to say, it is death. Throughout the industrialized world, birth rates... [MORE]

Richard Zalar 

Sep 17, 2008 16:33

In 1964, I was a new mother. I had read the book with interest. As I stood holding my daughter... [MORE]

Martha 

Sep 17, 2008 16:31

A thoughtful analysis by Ms. Sommers. Like Kit, I always felt I did not fit with the movement I grew... [MORE]

beth 

Sep 17, 2008 16:28

"One only has to look at the TV," yeah sure. That's not real life. I'm a guy and grew up... [MORE]

ivrydov 

Sep 17, 2008 14:05

Very well written article. The problem I have always had with the liberal feminists like Ms. Friedan is their disdain... [MORE]

Elizabeth 

Sep 17, 2008 13:50

Sadly, what Freidan did in her ridicule and attack on all the suburban housewives is create more dissatisfaction and self-loathing... [MORE]

Janine 

Sep 17, 2008 13:35

I'm 40 and I have no truck with feminism. We were taught in our teen years that feminism meant we... [MORE]

Kit Hosley 

Sep 17, 2008 13:18

A very well written article by Ms. Sommers. This has always been my main complaint about liberal feminists---that they assume... [MORE]

Catherine Zaring 

Sep 17, 2008 12:14

Insightful and well-balanced analysis. One only has to look at TV commercials from the 1950s to see the cringe-making condescension... [MORE]

Stephen Browne 

Sep 17, 2008 12:08

Ms. Friedan was committed to an ontological or metaphysical premise that continues to haunt feminism and many supporters of the... [MORE]

John Marshall 

Sep 17, 2008 11:23

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