The Feminine Mystique by Betty FriedanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I finally read this feminist classic. The first half was super interesting both from a historical perspective and for the eerie feeling that it was describing my current life despite the fact that I have complete freedom to go back to work. Regarding the latter issue, I wonder how much housewife despair is actually the luxury and time to contemplate the lack of objective meaning in life. Is the distraction of work really the answer? Sooner or later we have to come to terms with meaning or lack thereof- may be at retirement or on our deathbed. I suppose if there is no answer, distraction is an adequate enough solution.
I especially liked how Friedan tied the oppression of women to the overall issues of labor and corporate abuses.
The second half the book suffered from a number of problems. As a number of other reviewers mentioned the comparison to Holocaust camps (to demonstrate the negative feelings of lack of control over one's own life) is inappropriate. Couldn't Friedan just have studied or discussed the effects of lack of control on regular prisoners? Or even on dependent elderly adults? The second half also had a lot of dated and strange views about homosexuality the book would have been better without. Finally, it got really repetitive.
Overall, well worth reading and contemplating how far we have and haven't come.
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