Posted on 02/04/2006 1:10:18 PM PST by 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.
Uh... Welcome to Free Republic... I think...
Bless your heart. You've misspelled "Christian" and now you'll have to live with that embarassment for as long as you're a registered user...
I guess I feel bad, but I'm glad she's dead. Her passing makes the world just a little bit less wicked place. If only she'd taken Kate Michelman with her.
True Chrisitan = Complete Fraud.
Nice spelling Bozo.
Get lost, DUmmy buttmunch.
Not sounding too loving there, *True Christian*...
One of the many things I love about FR is that even when an enemy of conservatism dies, most of us recognize that it is a human loss to that person's family, no matter how misguided the person was. This is in sharp contrast to "feed him eggs and bacon" liberal trash.
The destruction of the black family is the legacy of socialist "feminism" and the welfare state.
There is no happiness in what this woman "accomplished" in her life time -- there is however a wake of destruction and misery. The shame is hers.
True Chrisitan
Since Feb 4, 2006
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Haven't been here to long, eh?
"It's all about finding balance in life. After all, we cannot encourage our daughters to go onto higher ed. and get advanced degrees, and then expect them to sit home and watch soap operas."
What? Being a sahm means watching soap operas?
I think I know what you mean, but you said it poorly.
And do you know what the biggest jab/insult at the "FReakers" the DUmmies use?
Yep, "FReakers" can't spell.
She also was a lesbian.
With her good looks, I'm shocked.
I "TRIED" to read her book.....while I was working, going to school and raising a son in the 70's......just could NOT get into it, and I am very persistent. I'll just say "Prayers for her...." and leave it at that.
I hope this doesn't screw up Daytona Speedweek.
I have an excellent reason now to be good so I can go to heaven - because then I will never have to see you again.
Cindy Sheehan = postmortem "mother".
YOU really do NOT understand life, do you, especially home life.
No kidding...this will be banner newscopy in Sunday papers around New England tomorrow, and local 'womyn' will be sporting black armbands all next week. Crap.
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