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Reconsiderations: Betty Friedan's 'The Feminine Mystique'

Submitted by Helene, Sep 21, 2008 22:57

Denise Banker, well-said, also. I have been entrenched in academia for over ten years now, as a teacher and now a doctor of English. The classics are becoming largely neglected, and our priorities are in a state of disarray, as we struggle to wade/sift through books like Friedan's that reflect not only a blatant misunderstanding of history and women's consistently ingenious roles in it, whether as soldier (Joan of Arc and to some extent, Judith in the tent of Holifernes) or servant (Therese of Lisieux), as queen (Marie of Romania, St. Helen and others), as prime-minister (Thatcher), or as VP candidate and mother (Palin). Whether women work at the forefront of our political system, or whether they toil behind the scenes, raising children and living the so-called humdrum life of the so-called stay-at-home mother, women are just as much a part of the days that are written down in history or quietly stowed away in the hearts of those who seem to know that simple living is enough for some women, and not enough for others. As complex individuals, we must not assume, as Friedan perhaps grudgingly might admit today (given her further retractions about her once-spirited hatred of motherly/wife-ish roles) that women are automatically relegated by some cosmic law to one sphere or the other, to one line of work or the other. We need only to look at the examples aforementioned (and the host of other great women) to know that exceptional and extraordinary women do exceptional and extraordinary things both inside and outside of the nucleus of the home. Women are making history, as they always have, and women's writings (think: Kristin Lavransdatter, by Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset) show time after time, that we - just as much as men ever were - are a part of the evolution and the devolution, the triumph and the failure of every era. Men and women, who as idiosyncratic as we are, remain united by one and the same "human" gravitation toward the good, true, and beautiful, toward what God has created and "man" must not tear asunder: that marriage between man and wife, and between the Bridegroom and his Church. (As a digressive sidenote, please note that I'm disconcerted when scholars revert to ridiculous polemics about the syntax of the word "history," calling it "her-story", and thus belie their ignorant disregard for the endearing simplicity of that old "dead" Latin language, which lives continuously in the spirit of the Catholic liturgy. Perhaps to call all "men" by one name, as the Latinites did: "homo, hominis..." is a more fine and intelligible assertion of the EQUALITY of both sexes than it is an attempt to separate them into lesser or equal beings. Still, nobody's perfect, not even Friedan...after all, we're only HUMAN. And, thank God for Erma Bombeck, who might have said all this in two sentences, with all her earnest zeal disguised by distinctly feminine humour. ;)

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
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...	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... [MORE]	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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