When one begins to think about it, America depends rather heavily on women's passive dependence, their femininity. Femininity, if one still wants to call it that, makes American women a target and a victim of the sexual sell.
Betty FriedanRead
If divorce has increased by one thousand percent, don't blame the women's movement. Blame the obsolete sex roles on which our marriages were based.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The increase in divorce rates should not be blamed on women's rights but rather on outdated gender roles that are unsustainable in modern marriages.
Betty Friedan's quote highlights the significant changes in societal norms regarding gender roles and marriage. She argues that the surge in divorce rates reflects a transformation in expectations and responsibilities within relationships, suggesting that rather than attributing this trend to the women's movement, it is essential to recognize that old-fashioned and rigid sexual roles are no longer viable for today's partnerships.
Themes
DivorceGender RolesWomen'S MovementMarriageSociety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a lecture on gender studies to illustrate evolving societal norms.
More from Betty Friedan
All quotes →Over and over again, stories in women's magazines insist that women can know fulfillment only at the moment of giving birth to a child. They deny the years when she can no longer look forward to giving birth, even if she repeats the act over and over again. In the feminine mystique, there is no other way for a woman to dream of creation or of the future. There is no other way she can even dream about herself, except as her children's mother, her husband's wife.
Betty FriedanRead
Advice? I don't offer advice. Not my business. Your life is what you make it.
Betty FriedanRead
We need to see men and women as equal partners, but it's hard to think of movies that do that. When I talk to people, they think of movies of forty-five years ago! Hepburn and Tracy!
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No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor.
Betty FriedanRead
It is easier to live through someone else than to complete yourself. The freedom to lead and plan your own life is frightening if you have never faced it before. It is frightening when a woman finally realizes that there is no answer to the question 'who am I' except the voice inside herself.
Betty FriedanRead
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