{"id":5702,"date":"2013-02-19T13:57:19","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T19:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?p=5702"},"modified":"2014-01-28T13:11:26","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T19:11:26","slug":"nice-work-myths-about-friedan-new-mystiques-on-sex-beauty-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2013\/02\/19\/nice-work-myths-about-friedan-new-mystiques-on-sex-beauty-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths about Friedan, New Mystiques on Sex, Beauty, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stellausedbooks.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Feminine-Mystique.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"281\" height=\"391\" \/>On the 50<sup>th<\/sup> Anniversary of <em>The Feminine Mystique<\/em>, Council on Contemporary Families Scholars identify what\u2019s changed\u2014and what hasn\u2019t. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 1963, when Betty Friedan published <em>The Feminine Mystique<\/em>, \u201cmost Americans did not yet believe that gender equality was possible or even desirable,\u201d according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stephaniecoontz.com\/\">Stephanie Coontz<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.contemporaryfamilies.org\/\">Council on Contemporary Families<\/a> Co-Chair and author of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Strange-Stirring-Feminine-Mystique-American\/dp\/046502842X\"><em>A Strange Stirring<\/em><\/a>, a study of why so many women responded to Friedan\u2019s book.\u00a0 Nowadays most people believe in gender equality, but stereotypes still get in the way of acting on those beliefs, as a panel of experts on sex, African American women, marriage, housework, Latina youth, motherhood, and lesbians document in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.contemporaryfamilies.org\/Gender-Sexuality\/50th-anniversary-of-feminine-mystique-publication.html\">new online symposium for the Council on Contemporary Families<\/a> marking the 50<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the book.<\/p>\n<p>Coontz opens the symposium with four myths about Betty Friedan and feminism:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>THE ANTI-MALE MYTH<\/strong>: Betty Friedan was <em>not<\/em> a man-hater, and <em>The Feminine Mystique <\/em>was <em>not <\/em>anti-marriage. In fact Friedan believed that dispelling the feminine mystique would make marriages happier \u2013 and, Coontz claims, she was right.<\/li>\n<li><strong>THE ANTI-HOMEMAKER MYTH<\/strong>: Feminism has <em>not<\/em> hurt homemakers. Half century ago, stay-at-home wives had no claim on their husband\u2019s income, no protection against marital rape, and even no right to their own credit card.<\/li>\n<li><strong>THE CAREER WOMAN<\/strong> <strong>MYTH<\/strong>:<strong> <\/strong>The entry of women into the workforce and their growing educational advantage over men <em>has not<\/em> destabilized marriage. Coontz notes that divorce rates have<em> declined<\/em> since 1980, especially for educated women, who are now more likely than any others to be married at age 40.<\/li>\n<li><strong>THE POST-FEMINIST MYTH<\/strong>: Women are <em>not yet<\/em> equal to or ahead of men, so gender equity continues to be an issue. Women still earn less than men with the same educational credentials in every occupation, and more women than men live below the poverty level. In addition, Coontz explains \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Strange-Stirring-Feminine-Mystique-American\/dp\/046502842X\">\u2018the hottie mystique<\/a>\u2019 that has led to a sexualization of young girls that can distract them from exploring their new options.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Additional brief essays offer original perspectives on youth, sex, African American women, lesbians, Latinas, and motherhood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Youth and Beauty Mystique: Its Costs for Women <strong>and<\/strong> Men\u201d by <a href=\"http:\/\/sociology.as.nyu.edu\/object\/paulaengland.html\">Paula England<\/a> notes that as men age, they have a wider choice of marriage partners, but this can backfire even for men because the younger spouse\u2014whether a man or a woman\u2014is more likely to seek a divorce.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSexual Mystiques: Do we still like it old school?\u201d by <a href=\"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?page_id=31\">Virginia Rutter<\/a> points out that when it comes to sexual fantasies, people continue to be more old-fashioned than they claim to be.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe UNFEMININE Mystique: Stereotypes about African-American Women\u201d by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sociology.ku.edu\/people\/hill\/\">Shirley Hill<\/a> argues that black women are subject to an \u201c\u2018unfeminine mystique\u2019 \u2013 the idea that they have characteristics and embrace lifestyles that are outside the boundaries of \u2018real\u2019 womanhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLesbian Mystiques\u201d by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.soc.washington.edu\/people\/faculty_detail.asp?UID=jhoward\">Judith A. Howard<\/a> recognizes the remarkable change in the status of gays and lesbians in the past 50 years. Once invisible \u2014or even condemned, including by Friedan\u2014lesbians have not only won new public acceptance but have broadened their own self-images and definitions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLatinas&#8217; Mystique\u201d by <a href=\"http:\/\/sociology.las.uic.edu\/sociology\/people\/faculty\/lorena\">Lorena Garcia<\/a>, explains her study of Mexican American and Puerto Rican adolescents, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Respect-Yourself-Protect-Intersection-Transdisciplinary\/dp\/0814733174\"><em>Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself: Latina Girls and Sexual Identity<\/em><\/a>, and the distorted image of how much impact culture influences girls\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Rise of the Motherhood Mystique\u201d by Cameron Macdonald draws upon her research for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Shadow-Mothers-Nannies-Micropolitics-Mothering\/dp\/0520266978\"><em>Shadow Mothers; Nannies, Au Pairs, and the Micropolitics of Mothering<\/em><\/a> to explain \u201cToday women\u2019s work outside of the home is often necessary and desirable. But we are a long way from the gender equity Friedan advocated. A new Motherhood Mystique has replaced the Feminine Mystique. Where the marital relationship was the core of the family unit in the 1950s and 1960s, today the mother-child bond is primary.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>For some great, quick reading, check out the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.contemporaryfamilies.org\/Gender-Sexuality\/50th-anniversary-of-feminine-mystique-publication.html\">CCF Online Symposium, Feminism and Families: What\u2019s the New Mystique?<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?page_id=31\">Virginia Rutter<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the 50th Anniversary of The Feminine Mystique, Council on Contemporary Families Scholars identify what\u2019s changed\u2014and what hasn\u2019t. In 1963, when Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, \u201cmost Americans did not yet believe that gender equality was possible or even desirable,\u201d according to Stephanie Coontz, Council on Contemporary Families Co-Chair and author of A Strange [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21108,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nice-work","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7039,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions\/7039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}