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A review by jessmele
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
1.0
Since I genuinely had a visceral reaction to this in college, here are a few excerpts from a paper I wrote:
Betty Friedanās legacy lives on as the rallying cry for white, straight, middle-class feminists. It is one that dismisses the struggles of women of color, lesbians, and poor women. Betty Friedan may have written a revolutionary book that played a role in the second wave feminist movement, but she did so from an entirely privileged perspective. Her longer lasting legacy is how she used language to persuade women, like her, to fight for themselves. Her language was used based off of the women that ran in her social circle, yet dismissed different identities of women. She was never writing for women of color, lesbians, or poor women. She was writing for the women like her.
Now, some people may say this is a product of its time, but Friedan had a history of discrimination, especially towards lesbian women. She even went as far as labeling lesbian feminists āthe lavender menaceā because she did not want to fight for lesbian rights. Up until a few years before she passed away, Friedan completely disregarded lesbian identities and believed marriage was only between a man and a woman.
Her lack of representation for women of different races, sexualities, and class statuses reflects on how language, although subtle, has meanings that far outweighs the surface level. The Feminine Mystique has not aged well, nor will it because of how little Friedan cared to include the struggles of people who are unlike her. Her privilege granted her that. Feminists today will not forget itānow or in the near future. Because āthe problem that has no nameā was one seeped in prejudice that Friedan herself perpetuated.
Betty Friedanās legacy lives on as the rallying cry for white, straight, middle-class feminists. It is one that dismisses the struggles of women of color, lesbians, and poor women. Betty Friedan may have written a revolutionary book that played a role in the second wave feminist movement, but she did so from an entirely privileged perspective. Her longer lasting legacy is how she used language to persuade women, like her, to fight for themselves. Her language was used based off of the women that ran in her social circle, yet dismissed different identities of women. She was never writing for women of color, lesbians, or poor women. She was writing for the women like her.
Now, some people may say this is a product of its time, but Friedan had a history of discrimination, especially towards lesbian women. She even went as far as labeling lesbian feminists āthe lavender menaceā because she did not want to fight for lesbian rights. Up until a few years before she passed away, Friedan completely disregarded lesbian identities and believed marriage was only between a man and a woman.
Her lack of representation for women of different races, sexualities, and class statuses reflects on how language, although subtle, has meanings that far outweighs the surface level. The Feminine Mystique has not aged well, nor will it because of how little Friedan cared to include the struggles of people who are unlike her. Her privilege granted her that. Feminists today will not forget itānow or in the near future. Because āthe problem that has no nameā was one seeped in prejudice that Friedan herself perpetuated.