The Feminine Mystique (64 page)

servants, domestic, 215, 216, 248, 301, 422

service sector, employment in, 490

sewing, 263–64

Sex and Temperament
(Mead), 168

sex-based differences:

cultural anthropology on, 152–64

in employment, 216–17, 460, 461–62, 463, 466, 467, 473, 490

functionalist sociological endorsement of, 144–50

in life expectancy, 507

in reproductive roles, 157, 158–63

temperamental variety vs., 152–56

sexual fulfillment:

education level vs., 221, 226–27, 330–31, 394–96, 397, 527
n,
541
n

as substitute for self-realization, 306–10, 315–17, 332–36, 380, 400–401

women's equality movement vs., 88, 394–95, 397, 518
n

sexual harassment, 488–89, 492

sexual intercourse:

female passivity and, 131–32, 391

feminine homemaker identity and, 35

frigidity in, 395, 396

identity validation sought in, 18–19

initial age of, 329–31

manuals on techniques of, 310

mutual satisfaction in, 391, 496

orgasm incidence in, 22, 221, 226–27, 331, 383, 394–97, 399, 400–401, 527
n,
535
n
–36
n

premarital, 197–98

transcendence of self in, 392

sexuality:

aging and, 389–90, 541
n

American preoccupation with, 311–12, 313, 321, 400–401, 528
n

biological life cycle of, 320–21, 525
n

consumerist exploitation of, 267–68, 322–23, 528
n

control issues expressed through, 316

depersonalization of, 310, 311, 312–14, 316, 325, 327, 331

extramarital, 307–9, 311, 314–15, 317, 318

Freudian emphasis on, 24, 114–16, 156

of girls, 329–31, 338–39, 341, 346, 360, 361

homosexual, 311, 322, 326, 327–29, 331–32, 470

in mass media, 310, 311–12, 313–14, 322, 529
n

repression of, 19, 24, 77, 112, 114

self-actualization vs., 389–91, 394

self-esteem (dominance feeling) vs., 382–83, 386–87

status-seeking use of, 308, 312–13, 321–23

Victorian inhibition of, 24, 77, 114

Sexual Politics
(Millett), 469

Shakespeare, William, 115

Shaw, Irwin, 218

Sheean, Vincent, 46

sibling rivalry, 220

single-parent families, 497, 498

Sitwell, Edith, 431

slavery, 87, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 101, 103, 394

Smith, Howard, 462

Smith College, xvi, 56, 69, 480

survey of graduates from, xxi–xxii, 517
n

smoking, 504

Snow, C. P., 150

social responsibility, 291, 388, 435–36

social science:

anti-feminist views strengthened in, 139–52, 163, 170, 181

cultural context of, 113–23

education in, 180–81, 183–84, 194, 196–97, 198

see also
anthropology; psychology; sociology

social spending programs, 501–2, 503

social status:

consumerism and, 265, 322–23

feminist movement, 101, 466

sociology:

functionalism in, 137, 140–51, 194, 522
n

women's academic degrees in, 522
n,
523
n

soldiers, 213

as Korean prisoners of war, 341–42, 531
n
–32
n

postwar education of, 446, 447

wartime psychological problems of, 221, 222–23, 225

South:

desegregation in, 27, 433

feminine cultural expectations in, 326, 353

Soviet Union:

female doctors in, 523
n

U.S. space race with, 4, 340

working mothers in, 231

space race, 4, 340

Spinoza, Benedict de, 387

spinsterhood, 173, 181–82

Spock, Benjamin, 58, 231, 531
n

spontaneity, 390, 391

sports, women's participation in, 487, 508–9

SS (
Schutzstaffel
), 369, 371

stability, intellectual development vs., 203

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 83, 87, 97, 98, 99, 100, 103

Stassen, Harold, 46

State, U.S. Department of:

female leadership in, 501

Foreign Service employment at, 474

Steinem, Gloria, 472

Stephens College, 181

sterling silver products, 260, 261

Stevenson, Adlai, 56–57

stewardesses, 466

Stewart, Martha, 489

Stolz, Lois Meek, 227–28, 229–30

Stone, Abraham, 529
n

Stone, Lucy, 91–95, 98, 99, 105

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 505

Strange Stirring, A
(Coontz), xii

Strecker, Edward, 222–25

stress, vulnerability to, 352

student movement, 468, 469

sublimation, 127, 133, 190

suburban life, xv–xvi, xvii

conformity in, 22

housekeeping in, 289–93

insularity of, 321

mobility of, 352

open-plan home design in, 292–93

work opportunities of, 416–17

Suddenly Last Summer
(Williams), 326

Suhl, Yuri, 519
n

suicide, 22, 279, 350–51, 361

superego, 111–12, 127, 137, 199, 343

Supreme Court, U.S.:

abortion rights recognized by, 473, 488

appointments to, 468

symbiosis, emotional, 345–48, 355

Taylor, Elizabeth, 322

Taylor, Harold, 340

Tchambuli culture, 152

teachers, 4, 434, 439, 450, 454, 539
n

temperament, sex-linked differences vs., 152–56

theater of the absurd, 219

Their Mothers' Sons
(Strecker), 222–25

Thomas, M. Carey, 102–3

Thompson, Clara, 125, 331–32, 519
n,
521
n

Thompson, Dorothy, 33–34

Thoreau, Henry David, 387

Tibet, Chinese oppression of, 493

Tillich, Paul, 373, 534
n

time:

housework expenditure of, 282–92, 295–96, 301, 410–11, 412, 413, 423, 432, 528
n

human sense of continuity of, 376–77

Time,
216

Tisserant, Eugène Cardinal, 184

Title IX, 487

Title VII, 461–62, 463, 487

Tobias, Sheila, 468

Tocqueville, Alexis de, 503

togetherness, family, 36, 41–44, 267, 295, 360, 390

toilet training, 116

tranquilizers, 20, 279, 297

Triangle Shirtwaist factory, 103–4

Truth, Sojourner, 101

unconscious mind, 115

Underground Railroad, 96, 104

union movement, 103–4

United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (1995), 492–93

unskilled labor, 192, 526
n

urban migration, 288, 528
n

vandalism, 341

Vassar College, 172–73, 201–7, 480, 539
n

venereal disease, 341, 531
n

vicarious living, 344, 345, 348–49, 359, 360, 361, 365

Victoria, Queen of England, 141–42

Victorian culture, 284

Freudian theory developed in, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 125, 128, 130–31, 140

marital relationships in, 118, 119

scientific determinism in, 115

sexual repression in, 24, 77, 114

Vietnam war, 472

Virginia Military Institute, 505

Virgin Mary, 35

voluntarism, 208, 291–92, 417–18, 419, 422, 503, 528
n

voting participation, 11, 488

voting rights, women's, xix, 94, 96, 99, 101, 102–3, 104–5, 107, 470, 475

wages:

minimum, 501

sex-based differences in, 216, 460, 490

WAM, 182

Warren, Jean, 528
n

washing machines, 256, 286, 305

Weaver, Polly, 429

weight loss efforts, 3, 302

White, Lynn, 182, 527
n

Whitman, Walt, 388, 525
n

widowhood, 208

Williams, Tennessee, 219, 322, 326

Wollstonecraft, Mary, 83, 87, 98

Womanpower,
192, 523
n

Woman's Home Companion,
29, 37, 56

Woman's Party, 104

Woman's Rights Convention (1848), 86, 97

women:

discontinuity in cultural conditioning of, 75–76

Freudian theories on, 110, 111, 112–13, 116–36, 210

infantilization of, 117–19, 149–50, 347–48, 353

life-cycle stages of, 320–21, 525
n

life goals of, 67–70

male hostility toward, 310, 323–24, 325–29, 333–34, 530
n

older, 207–9, 442, 460, 537
n
–39
n

political activism of, 169, 471–73, 494, 499–500, 502

in political office, 472, 473, 494, 501

secondary status of, 110

self-realization forfeited by, 375–406

violence against, 493

voting of, 11, 94, 96, 99, 101, 102–3, 104–5, 107, 470, 475, 488, 500–501

working-class, xii, xix

women's magazines, xiii, 24–53, 58–64

actresses profiled in, 48

advertisements vs. editorial content of, 273–74

career women as heroines in, 29–33, 37, 48, 49, 518
n

on chronic fatigue, 297–99

consumption emphasized in, 62, 63

dependent feminine models in, 39–44

disability articles in, 47

failures of, 63

fiction vs. service articles in, 49–51

glamorous images featured in, 3, 62

homemaker role extolled in, xviii, 33–35, 36–41, 47–48, 58–62

limited editorial content of, 25–28

male control vs. female contributions to, 49, 63, 64, 486–87

political subjects in, 44–46

sexuality in, 310, 312

type enlarged in, 62, 63

women's rights movement,
see
feminist movement

Women's Strike for Equality march (1970), 472

women's studies programs, 468, 505

Women's Two Roles
(Myrdal and Klein), 536
n
–37
n,
540
n

Working Mother,
499

working women, 495

American vs. European, 404, 536
n
–37
n

child-care resources of, 215–16, 290, 451, 465, 540
n

children's psychological difficulties blamed on, 222, 227–31

in community organizations, 417–18

earnings of, 216, 418–19, 460, 490

in factory jobs, 101, 103–4, 217

guilt experienced by, 197, 426

in home-based positions, 423

housekeeping time allocated by, 282, 283, 287–88, 423, 528
n

housewives' resentment of, 428–29

job discrimination experienced by, xviii, 452, 468, 473, 474, 490

male competition with, 216–17

marital happiness of, 398, 426, 427–28

numbers of, 4, 48, 55, 192–93, 222, 489–90, 526
n,
528
n,
536
n
–37
n

older, 4, 208–9, 526
n,
538
n

in part-time jobs, 4, 208, 526
n

in pioneer life, 64, 403–4

religious dogma vs., 424–25

sexual harassment of, 488–89, 492

in subsistence jobs vs. professions, 4, 146–47, 148, 149, 179, 182, 288, 416, 460

urban opportunities for, 290

in wartime, 215–16, 217

see also
careers; career women; employment

World War I, 104, 521
n

World War II, 212–14, 215

American cultural regression after, 217–19

baby boom after, 214

soldiers' psychological difficulties in, 220–21

Wright, Fanny, 88–89

writers, female American, 505–6

Wylie, Ida Alexa Ross, 105–6

Wyoming, woman suffrage rights in, 96

Yale University, 440

youth serum, 77

Further praise for The Feminine Mystique

“No woman did more [than Friedan] to spur the feminist awakening of the 1960s and 70s.”

—Michael Kazin,
New Republic

“If you want to understand the passion that helped fire up the modern women's movement there may be no better place to start than with
The Feminine Mystique
.”

—Lynn Neary, NPR

“What strikes me most about Friedan's work is the bravery and boldness of her argument. . . . She called it as she saw it, without equivocation or apology. Her well-chosen words still pack a wallop; I can only begin to imagine their impact in 1963.”

—Vinca LaFleur,
Elle

“If American women look at their lives today, they are seeing Betty Friedan's legacy in action.”

—Naomi Wolf,
Time

“[The] gasp factor keeps
The Feminine Mystique
evergreen.”

—Janet Maslin,
New York Times

“Brilliant. . . . [Friedan] succeeded where no other feminist writer had. She touched the lives of ordinary readers.”

—Louis Menand,
The New Yorker

“
The Feminine Mystique
has a larger and deeper vision: . . . an adult cannot thrive in a culture that infantilizes her. If Rousseau had not been a mad misogynist, he would have applauded Friedan.”

—Katha Pollitt,
The Nation

“Has the power to surprise and unsettle.”

—
New York Times

“[Friedan] wants mothers—indeed, all people—to ‘lean in' to life's work and not fear inevitable difficulties that arise when trying to ‘have it all' and juggle work and family. . . . Betty Friedan wrote
The Feminine Mystique
50 years ago, but today her wisdom still merits sharing.”

—Nanette Fondas,
The Atlantic

“
The Feminine Mystique
forever changed the conversation as well as the way women view themselves. If you've never read it, read it now and reflect on what our mothers and grandmothers were feeling at the time. It's a great moment to celebrate this milestone work, which fundamentally altered the course of women's lives.”

—Arianna Huffington,
O, The Oprah Magazine

“Betty Friedan is my favorite feminist.”

—Ashley Fetter,
The Atlantic

“One of those rare books we are endowed with only once in decades, a volume that launched a major social movement. . . . Betty Friedan is a liberator of women and men.”

—Amitai Etzioni, author of
The Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society

“Remarkably inspiring and definitely worth revisiting—or reading for the very first time—whatever generation you belong to.”

—
Bookpage

“In a supposedly postfeminist world, many of today's women are happy to own [their] choices, and believe that manipulation has nothing to do with it;
The Feminine Mystique
insists on placing the very idea of choice in its truer . . . context.”

—Andi Zeisler,
Los Angeles Review of Books

“Written with a passionate drive. . . . It will leave you with some haunting facts as well as a few hair-raising stories. That
The Feminine Mystique
is at the same time a scholarly work, appropriate for serious study, only adds to its usefulness.”

—Lillian Smith,
Saturday Review

“A highly readable, provocative book.”

—Lucy Freeman,
New York Times Book Review

“More than any other factor, Betty's book opened our eyes and our minds to the possibilities of a richer, more meaningful life for women.”

—Ann W. Richards, late governor of Texas

“Illuminating. . . . Friedan's groundbreaking book and Simone de Beauvoir's
Second Sex
are the twin pillars on which the entire women's movement was constructed. We still can't do without them.”

—Marilyn Yalom, author of
A History of the Breast

“[Friedan is a] bridge between conservative and radical elements in feminism, an ardent advocate of harmony and human values.”

—Marilyn French,
Esquire

“A vastly significant book that has made a world of difference, much of it slowly acquired.”

—
Kirkus Reviews