The Feminine Mystique Essay

In the “The Feminine Mystique,” by Betty Friedan, the author begins to question “the problem that has no name,” which is, “Why are American housewives so unhappy with their supposedly “perfect’ lives”? Friedan concludes that the reason American housewives are so depressed is that of, “the feminine mystique,” society’s idea that women’s sole purpose in life is to bring pleasure to a man, be a housewife and mother, but nothing more. In the 50’s and 60’s, all American women had been told their whole

did not share all of the same rights as men, including the right to vote.” (History.com Staff). The constitution being amended in 1920 making the 19th Amendment was a huge spark towards the start of equality between men and women. In 1963, The Feminine Mystique was written by Betty Friedan, and it made her a household name. It was often seen as the beginning of the Women’s Liberation Movement. In this book, she seeks to find information about the unhappiness of women in the mid-20th century. She hunts

the dark, and to be ashamed of it” (628). In other words, to be feminine is to mother children and to marry a man. Deviating from this neatly structured plan for a woman’s obligation is to become unfeminine. In America, Betty Friedan, a feminist writer, wrote The Feminine Mystique in 1963. In her book, she rebels against the traditional view of femininity. She coined the term which shares the title of her book as, “The feminine mystique says that the highest value and the only commitment for women

In the book The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan brings attention to what she calls the feminine mystique, or “the problem that has no name”. Through the use of anecdotal narratives, her own personal experiences as a journalist, editor, mother, and the interviews of many women from different backgrounds in order to unveil the truth about the women of the 1950’s. The problem which sparked the second wave of feminism in the United States is one that focuses on the inequality between men and women and

In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan presents several arguments that dealt with the issues of personal engagement and equality that women of the time faced, calling it, “the problem that has no name.” Friedan describes an ideal that middle-class women of the 1960s were held to. She highlights that women were “chained” to kitchens and their spouses and children, while their dreams of careers and college degrees were suppressed. These women had goals and dreams, and they wanted more, but as Friedan

Betty Friedan struck an emotional chord that wavered long-standing beliefs regarding the traditional American housewife when she released her book, The Feminine Mystique. The work was historic for two very important reasons. One was that it was written by someone experiencing the aura of the “feminine mystique” personally, who could relate to the plight of the middle-class stay-at-home mother. Another is because while Friedan and others had witnessed the dissatisfaction of many American women individually

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan is related to the second wave of feminism. Betty Friedan wrote about “The Problem that has no Name.” Throughout the next few pages the analysis will be on The Feminine Mystique with particular attention on “The Problem that has no Name.” In the 1960s it was uncommon for the women of the time to hold a job and raise a family. Betty Friedan worked until she was pregnant, which she was fired for, and then continued to write freelance for journals and newspapers

Both The Feminine Mystique and “Shooting an Elephant” discuss the confrontation between the self and society. In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan addresses “The Problem That Has No Name” referring to the widespread unhappiness of the housewife due to their obligation to uphold their ideal image rather than pursuing their dreams; in “Shooting an Elephant”, George Orwell comments on the societal expectations of imperialism and its effects on people who have the duty to uphold the law. In both of

the second wave of feminism, Friedan was an influential women’s right activist during the twentieth century but her legacy has continued to strive well into the twenty-first century. Friedan is the author of a variety of books including The Feminine Mystique, which became a phenomenon because of its powerful message to women for self-exploration outside their traditional roles. This book helped to define Friedan’s role in the fight for women empowerment and equality. It evoked emotions in many women

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

The Feminine Mystique is the title of a book written by the late Betty Friedan who also founded The National Organization for Women to help US women gain equal rights. I choose this topic because there has been a lot of media on the feminine moment and how it’s being negatively looked upon so I wanted to learn a little of how it started. She describes the "feminine mystique” she talks about the expectations women had and the box they had to fit in even as young girls, how being an uneducated girl

‘The Feminine Mystique’, first published in the year of 1963, is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential books in the 20th century as well as in the history of feminism. (Fox, 2006) The book signals the beginning of the second wave of the feminist movement as feminism literature to illustrate and analyse female problems in 1960s America. (Fox, 2006) At the same time, it is a declaration to proclaim an era in which American women strove towards the equality that females refused to be subordinate

FRATERRIGO, ELIZABETH. "The Happy Housewife Heroine" And "The Sexual Sell." Frontiers: A Journal Of Women Studies 36.2 (2015): 33-40. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 7 Nov. 2016. This article focuses on Betty Friedan and the Feminine Mystique. Fraterrigo examines the Feminine Mystique and the problem has no name. She focuses on Friedan disapproval of housework bring an ultimate fulfillment for a woman. Friedan says that society encourages women to embrace the role of a wife and mother. She blamed advertisers

58. Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique 1963 The text “The Feminine Mystique”, introduces the discussing with the title "The Problem That Has No Name." Betty Friedan uses this to generally mention the discontent of women, as young as ten years old, in the 1920’s throughout the 1960’s. Friedan argues the movement in marriages and births that affected women. Friedan describes the emotional distress of being inferior and limited because of gender. It was believed that women must learn how to catch

In her Feminine Mystique essay, “The Importance of Work”, writer Betty Friedan talks about how the identity crisis of American women beginning about a century ago. More and more of the work that was used by human abilities in which they could find self-realization that was taken from women. The identity crisis for women did not begin in America until the fire, strength, and ability of the pioneer women were no longer needed. Women today whom feel that they have no goal, purpose, or future will commit

“The Importance of Work” is an essay from The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan. The whole essay talks about how humans can contribute to the society with their full capacities through work and that women should hold jobs equivalent to men. Friedan insists that men and women need work that satisfies their creativity and contributes to human society. Today, doing paid work is a necessity because it helps us get through the day wether for our needs or our pleasures. The money earned from work supports

The phrase, “the problem without a name” is a statement throughout Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique which acts as an ostinato, or repetitive theme or pattern. It becomes quite apparent that this statement holds a great importance to the message Friedan was trying to convey to her audience of her book. This simple phrase encapsulates many of the concerns woman had about their role in society; more specifically, their confliction between their duties at home and their want to transcend the

in the world. Friedan wrote a book named The Feminine Mystique, which has become an international bestseller and has sold over one million copies since its release in 1963(citation, from opening of book). Her book focused on the societal expectations that kept women in the home for many years. Friedan captured the anger and frustration many women felt, and offered ways for women to recapture their lives back. Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, launched a conversation about women’s roles

Suppression of Women through Isolation in The Feminine Mystique, Radicalesbians, and Trifles      It is far easier to break the spirit of one human being than that of a united group of people. Betty Friedan’s "The Feminine Mystique", "Radicalesbians", and Susan Glaspell’s "Trifles" come to the same conclusion: isolation and separation caused women to be vulnerable to domination by male society. Social stigmatization by men, an inability to describe the situation

Betty Friedan played a significant part in sparking the second-wave of feminism in the United States. Friedan authored The Feminine Mystique, which publicized women’s passive behavior and apathetic livelihood. In her novel, Friedan highlighted society’s partisan treatment against women based on their constrained living condition as a housewife. Friedan argued women’s growth potential had been restricted due to women’s glorification of family, loss of identity, lack of education, and misinterpretation