Can't relate!

It feels like I'm committing a crime against feminism by giving this three stars. No doubt it's a highly important and influential book in 20th century women's history, but it's quite problematic to me, a 21st century reader. Times and thinking have changed (for some anyway!), making the references to being gay, child abuse and the Holocaust highly offensive.

I found the epilogue very interesting - seeing how the Women's Movement really took off after Betty's book - but found it amusing that, in the final review, written in 1997, Betty makes reference to President Clinton and the family policies in his second election... (I'm currently watching Impeachment so the context is fresh in my mind.)

The intro does make reference to COVID-19 and how women have taken on more work in the home, childcare, etc compared to men. So, now that women (in the US and UK at least) are free to have an education and a career, it seems that, for many, their burden is now even greater!? Oh yay, capitalism. We still have far to go.

Finished this book after putting it down for several months. What makes this 5 stars for me (other than being a feminist classic) is that it provided me with a lot of understanding of my mother and why she is the way she is and why she views the world the way she does. My mother came at the end of this generation of women where many girls grew into housewives. This book helped me understand the kind of messages she was receiving as child even in the 70s and allowed us to have a good conversation. It made me more understanding and less angry. That allow makes this 5 stars.

Didn't finish this one. I see why it's an important book, but it's outdated and less relevant in terms of modern, third wave feminism. It seemed to just drag on repetitively about the same things, but I don't blame Friedan! You can't say much when you exclude every woman from your feminist movement that isn't white and upper-middle class :)

One of the reasons I began exploring feminism.

Sixty years on and what strikes me is that we're in many ways back to what Friedan was writing about. The backlash is real. This is exactly the opposite of what Naomi Wolf says in a phone interview included in the audiobook. She claims Friedan's book is dated, because the rights were won. Yeah, right. Including that needless interview after the audiobook left a sour taste in my mouth. (Otherwise, I love Parker Posey's voice. It's a really nice listening experience). In terms of content, it is interesting that although Friedan presents a solid critique of psychoanalysis in one the chapters, she's very much on board the Freudian homophobia--and doesn't seem to think it a problem in her later afterword. I'm glad the movement has moved on. Also, the book feels simply too long. The point is driven home already by the halfway mark, so some condensation would have been welcome. Otherwise this is a great testament to the fact that the struggle never ends.

So this book was fascinating obviously, but of course I have a few objections. Namely the feminine mystique makes people gay argument and concentration camp comparisons. All in all it was much better than When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost, which made me actively angry.