For years the philosophical debate has raged on. Emotions or intellect? Romanticism, a philosophy with an emphasis on emotion, instinct, and idealism, holds the idea that the world and everything in it is more than the sum of its parts, and holds that there are some things that are not fully discoverable or observable. On the other side we are faced with the philosophy of the enlightenment. Enlightened thinking holds that anything that exist can be discovered through logic, reason, and observable evidence.…
What is the correct meaning of the powerful word “feminist?” Today, feminism is usually referred to as a woman who supports her rights. Hawthorne represents feminism through his character Hester, in “The Scarlet Letter” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Although people view women as weak, Hester was a strong female character that stood up for herself by raising her daughter alone, protecting her secret lover, and even experiencing the pain of wearing the shameful letter “A.” Usually, men view women as weak by saying that they are not able to do certain things that men can, which is irrelevant. Hester raised her daughter Pearl all on her own without any help. even though raising a child on your own is very challenging at times. While constantly…
Through the whole book, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, gives numerous insights on how women were treated throughout the years and how their role in life, was to be a housewife and only a housewife. Although women enjoyed caring for their husbands and children, they often became sad, empty, and sometimes suicidal. Women wanted to work outside of their homes and pursue the dreams they always wanted, but it was frowned upon. This led to the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, creating the concept called “Penis Envy”. With this concept, it meant, “the literal explanation of all that was wrong with American women” (105). I do not believe women from the past were envious of men because of their penis but rather their freedom. Due…
Cited: Archer, J. (1991). Margaret Sanger. In Breaking Barriers: The feminist revolution from Susan B. Anthony to Margaret Sanger to Betty Friedan (pp. 72-123). New York, NY: Viking.…
After the release of Friedan’s novel, there was an overwhelming response from the readers. Many responded with utter happiness, claiming that Feminine Mystique had changed their lives, while many responded negatively. Friedan’s success led her to co-fund the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966, to work towards increasing women’s rights. By being a part of this organization she influenced the change “outdated laws that were disadvantageous to women, such as sex-segregated help-wanted ads and hiring practices, unequal pay, and firing a woman who was pregnant instead of providing her with maternity leave” (NWHM). However, many African Americans felt that NOW was “too white and middle class” to address the problems poor women and racial…
Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was first published in the United States in 1963 by W. W. Norton & Company. Friedan began writing this piece after she attended her fifteen-year college reunion at Smith, a woman's college. She prepared a questionaire for 200 of her classmates at this reunion. The results were as she expected; many American women were unhappy and did not know why. Many magazines did not want to post Friedan's results because it contradicted the original role of women and conventional assumptions about femininity. After this, Friedan spent five years researching and writing The Feminine Mystique. In this book, Friedan defines women's unhappiness as "The problem that has no name". She goes into detailed exploration of what she believes is the problem for these women. Friedan uses statistics, theories, and first-person accounts to show that the problem is the idealized image of women society has created, which she calls The Feminine Mystique. Women have been confined to the roles of a housewife and a mother, denying them education and career opportunitites. Friedan successfully proves that the feminine mystique denies women the opportunity to develop their own ideas by discussing women's educational process, effective look at media, and first-hand accounts with other women.…
Have you ever stopped and thought about how the views and roles of women have changed throughout several generations? I certainly have. Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is very powerful short story about a woman, Louise Mallard, who becomes very independent and calmed when she hears some terrible news about her husband, Brently.…
Joan Korenman, the author of the website International Women's Web Sites, has obviously put a large amount of time and effort to provide an international database of topics that would not be easily found with your average search engine. There is absolutely no stone unturned, as a man, I could not think of any topic regarding womanhood that is not covered. Ms. Korenman provides the internet novice or academic scholar a starting point to find a specific topic or agenda for research or personal knowledge. If you click on the “Go back to complete list of women-related WWW sites”, located at the bottom left of the page, it will take you to the Women's Studies / Women's Issues Resource page that is organized by topic, so if one is looking for something…
Gender; a term that many would assume refers to an individual’s sex as either male or female. While this is true, what many are unaware of is that it is typically used with reference to social and cultural differences as opposed to biological ones. In The Last Time I Wore a Dress, author Daphne Scholinski offers the reader many personal experiences in which she met due to the sociological misconception of how gender is really defined in American society; a misconception that once clarified, I believe, could alleviate much senseless prejudice.…
Gail Collins argues, “The Feminine Mystique is a very specific cry of rage about the way intelligent, well-educated women were kept out of the mainstream of American professional life and regarded as little more than a set of reproductive organs in heels” (1). At a time when women were at their academic peak with the highest college attendance and graduation rates, one would assume that women would confidently take on more important roles in the workforce, especially following the Rosie the Riveter campaign that empowered female workers during World War II; however, women took on more domestic roles in higher percentages, forgetting the progress in women’s rights their mothers and grandmothers worked so hard to achieve. Louis Menand explains, “When Friedan was writing her book, the issue of gender equality was barely on the public’s radar screen. On the contrary: it was almost taken for granted that the proper goal for intelligent women was marriage” (2). A large contributor to this decision is the false sense of accomplishment women were promised in return for their spousal duties. Critic Catherine Judd explains, “Friedan notes that suburban housewives have been told by the media, by the medical community, and by educators that they…
The Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Desk Dictionary defines feminism as, “A doctrine advocating the granting of the same social, political and economic rights to women as the ones granted to men.” Feminists consider woman as an oppressed group, those who must present themselves as individuals and human beings. In Margaret Laurence’s The Diviners, Morag Gunn’s struggle for female self-representation is seen as she writes about her life. This is shown through Morag’s desires for lust and profanity, that which females should keep hidden. Furthermore, Morag breaks social boundaries by writing her novel from the female perspective. Finally, Laurence allows the reader to become sympathetic for Morag as she is marginalized in a predominantly male society. Margaret Laurence shows the intricacy that is feminism through the depiction of the assertive, yet vulnerable Morag Gunn.…
To some the 1950s were a time of post war bliss and happiness. At the close of the Second World War the United States was in a state of economic high. Suburbs were becoming a social norm and the number of babies being born in this year went up by 215 percent. The United States was the world’s strongest military power and the fruits of prosperity, cars and new technology were available to more people than ever. Although the 1950s weren’t all poodle skirts and Elvis, in some parts of the country different minorities like women and various ethnicities felt a strong power of discrimination. In A Street Car Named Desire, one very popular play in the 1950s, portrays the relationships of men and women and the differences of expectation versus reality. In the play a Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams attempts to convince his audience that 1950s American society is conflicted based on gender roles, societal behavior expectations comparatively, and how Blanche and Stanley fit into these sociably acceptable roles.…
The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan (1963). (n.d.). Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved December 11, 2012, from http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/friedan.htm…
George Bernard Shaw’s My Fair Lady is the story of a lady, by the name of Eliza, who lives and works on the street. Eliza sells flowers daily to make a living. Eliza hears a phonetics professor say he can take Eliza and pass her at an Embassy Ball in six months or less, just after he puts her down by saying, “Yes, you squashed cabbage leaf! You disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns” (650)! Eliza over hearing the professor’s address makes her way to his front door. Eliza makes sure that Higgins is aware that she arrives in a taxi; she feels this would be a nice impression. When Eliza arrives she soon finds that Professor Higgins is ruder than she remembers him whenever he calls her baggage. As Eliza agrees to stay with Higgins for six months, relationships that were never thought to be develop rather quickly. While Eliza stays with Higgins she is transformed to a completely different person. By the end of the play it is clear that Eliza’s speech changes her attitude and the way people treat her. People that Eliza would have never encountered before treat her beautifully because of the way she speaks.…
"I often wonder how you can find time for what you do, in addition to the care of the house; and how good Mrs. West could have written such books and collected so many hard works, with all her family cares, is still more a matter of astonishment! Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb."…