Feminist Author Betty Friedan Dies at 85

AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 02/04/2006

[GeneD]

WASHINGTON - Betty Friedan, whose manifesto "The Feminine Mystique" became a best seller in the 1960s and laid the groundwork for the modern feminist movement, died Saturday, her birthday. She was 85.

Friedan died at her home of congestive heart failure, according to a cousin, Emily Bazelon.

Friedan's assertion in her 1963 best seller that having a husband and babies was not everything and that women should aspire to separate identities as individuals, was highly unusual, if not revolutionary, just after the baby and suburban booms of the Eisenhower era.

The feminine mystique, she said, was a phony bill of goods society sold to women that left them unfulfilled, suffering from "the problem that has no name" and seeking a solution in tranquilizers and psychoanalysis.

"A woman has got to be able to say, and not feel guilty, `Who am I, and what do I want out of life?' She mustn't feel selfish and neurotic if she wants goals of her own, outside of husband and children," Friedan said.

In the racial, political and sexual conflicts of the 1960s and '70s, Friedan's was one of the most commanding voices and recognizable presences in the women's movement.

As a founder and first president of the National Organization for Women in 1966, she staked out positions that seemed extreme at the time on such issues as abortion, sex-neutral help-wanted ads, equal pay, promotion opportunities and maternity leave.

[nickcarraway]

Well, her original book was basically a lie. She claimed to have a family life that was much different than the reality.

[hummingbird]

Sad. She started a movement with intelligent thoughts, that went bad, as she herself somewhat acknowledged later on, as the kooks took over.

Agree. The "movement" became very strident and divisive. Not to mention birthing a cult of personality in Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Ruth Ginsburg, et al.

A shame; the "Women's Movement" "coulda' been a contender."

IMHO, of course! I haven't chalked up a gain/loss chart on it yet.

[nickcarraway]

No, it wasn't Gloria Steinem. It was an Australian woman, but I can't remember her name.

[TC Rider]

Here's a very kind review of one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Wolf
Like leprechauns, there aren't very many.

Wikipedia? LOL, she probably wrote it herself.

[operation clinton cleanup]

The Liberal influences of the baby boomers are dropping like flys... I think it is Fidels turn next.

[john drake]

Germaine Greer. Although I never agreed with her either, she was the most intelligent of this bunch, and for a woman of her views, not the least bit unfeminine. One of the best debates on Bill Buckley's Firing Line back in the early 70's was between her and Bill. It was a draw, believe it or not, if I remember correctly. This was one smart chick. I wonder what her attitudes are like now?

[wardaddy]

A polite RIP for her soul.

[nickcarraway]

I take issue with the idea that Betty Friedan was responsible for women having careers, there were plenty of women who had careers before Friedan was even born. WWII had more impact on women in the workforce than she did.

[tumblindice]

Probablee. She sure played algore and the Dims.
I think she created `earth-tone' Al.

[Libloather]

Early in Dubya's first term, I called into C-Span and got to tell Betty Friedan that she's a perfect example of how wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age - and I've got the tape to prove it! (That maybe the only time I've ever heard a C-Span moderator crack up laughing...)

[jocon307]

"Betty Friedan...died Saturday, her birthday..."

I have a friend who always admires people who die on their birthdays, she thinks it shows they are very organized. RIP Betty, even though you caused an awful lot of trouble while you were here.

[rpellegrini]

I knew her and you are right. Won't miss her a bit.

[Torie]

That was Germaine Greer! I liked Germaine. I liked her because she had a good sense of humor and was honest. She said that she would have been a terrible failure as a mother and traditional women, and would have gone insane in that role. Without the feminist movement, she would not have had a clue what to do with herself, as she put it. She was the most honest and articulate and intelligent and effective of them all.

As a highly educated and accomplished British woman that I knew, who served on her local council, and was a loyal Tory in the tightly zoned incredibly beautiful precincts of the borderland between Kent and Sussex near Tunbridge Wells, living in this sumptuous home built in 1575 with hallways upstairs that sloped due to something whenever, a house with a name ("rooted" houses down there all have names), with a solicitor aka lawyer husband, and three sons, told me at the time, somewhat defensively, Germaine is really too intelligent to really believe all of this.

[nightdriver]

"No, it wasn't Gloria Steinem. It was an Australian woman, but I can't remember her name."

You're right, and I don't remember her name, either.

I believe the quote the Aussie said was: "Man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle."

It was about the same time Friedan came out with her "Mystique" opus.

[nickcarraway]

Gee, in one sentence you've dismissed the work of all women before the 1960's as dependent, dullwitted, and unaccomplished. It's nice to know that George Elliot, Jan Austen, Madame Curie, Hypatia, Grace Hopper, Charlotte Corday, et al were just mindless drones.

[hummingbird]

Heh, heh, heh...I still have a notepad around here with the fish/bicycle maxim!

[Torie]

Ditto. I watched the same show. She was awesome.

[Torie]

I really don't think I did that.

[hummingbird]

Ditto to your post!

[Revolting cat!]

Maybe she was unhappy because she didn't marry her lover, unindicted Communist spy, Ted Hall.

You know, you're onto something there. Ideologues often have some such heartbreaking secret in their past. Like that failed Viennese painter. If so, she took her revenge on humanity, for sure.