Sherry Chandler » Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan
from the LATimes:
“I never set out to write a book to change women’s lives, to change history,” said Friedan, who always kept a sense of wonder about her place in history as the mother of the contemporary women’s movement.
“It’s like, ‘Who, me?’ Yes, me. I did it. And I’m not that different from other women…. Maybe my power and glory was that I could speak my truth as a woman and it was the truth of every woman.”
from the NYTimes:
“Some people think I’m saying, ‘Women of the world unite — you have nothing to lose but your men,’ ” she told Life magazine in 1963. “It’s not true. You have nothing to lose but your vacuum cleaners.”
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2 Comments
1. Terry replies at 5th February 2006, 1:29 pm :
While Betty Friedan was criticized for speaking only to the upper and middle class, The Feminist Mystique was a wake-up call to women everywhere, and continues to be. I read it first in 1978, and my daughter was assigned the book in 2004 in her Sociology of Gender class. She couldn’t believe it had been written 40 years ago. Some issues just won’t go away, no matter how much people want them to.
2. sherry replies at 5th February 2006, 2:41 pm :
A friend who was once active in NOW recently sent me an item about how the army is giving training sessions in picking a spouse. The program is called “How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk.” It is also called “P.I.C.K. a Partner,” for Premarital Interpersonal Choices and Knowledge. Here is some of the description form the AP:
I don’t know whether this program is gender neutral or not. My friend obviously thinks not. She says it makes her mad enough to consider going back into NOW.
So it is true, Terry, some issues don’t go away.
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