Illustration of a woman in an apron in a kitchen

The Feminine Mystique

by Betty Friedan

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The Feminine Mystique Questions and Answers

What was Friedan's problem in The Feminine Mystique? Doesn't it only apply to a limited group of bored, white, middle class women?    

Why is The Feminine Mystique still important and affecting today's society?

Why does Friedan believe that women in America in the 1950s and early 60s, despite the era's prosperity and stability, are fundamentally unhappy?

How did The Feminine Mystique affect the American culture?

What kind of text is The Feminine Mystique? Is it is narrative, argumentative/persuasive, or descriptive?

Why is there a negative connotation associated with feminism?

Are the ideas promoted in the book The Feminine Mystique popular today?

Are there any thoughts on how Betty Friedan's work on the oppression of women can be tied to the oppression of African Americans?

What is a functionalist, and why are they so called, as referred to in The Feminine Mystique?

Using Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique and her descriptions of women's lives in middle class suburbs, in what ways do women still experience "the sacrificed experience"?  

Which statement about Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique? 1. It argues that femininity should be tied to one's ability to earn a wage and contribute to the family income. 2. It was not very popular at the time it was published and has only recently gained attention from scholars. 3. It argues that all women should reject professional careers in favor of staying at home, for the sake of their children. 4. It questions traditional gender norms and identifies that many women feel unfulfilled as housewives.

Friedan states that women “got all kinds of advice from the growing armies of marriage and child guidance counselors, psychotherapists, and armchair psychologists, on how to adjust to their role as housewives. No other road to fulfillment was offered to American women in the middle of the twentieth century.” What do these “growing armies” say about American self-reliance and individualism? What might be some reasons that “other roads” seemed shut off to women?

Who is the publisher of The Feminist Mystique?

What are some arguments people would have towards/against this book when it was published in 1963?

Why did women, as Betty Friedan noted in her book, "wenthome again" in the 1950s?

What would the authors brief description of "generation" be?