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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques societal expectations placed on women, suggesting that fulfillment is often linked solely to motherhood.
Betty Friedan's quote addresses the restrictive narrative found in women's magazines, which implies that a woman's fulfillment can only be fully realized through motherhood. She highlights the limitations this mindset imposes, as it overlooks the potential for women's identity and aspirations beyond being a mother or a wife, confining their sense of self to traditional roles and denying them the possibility of dreaming about their personal future and self-actualization.
Themes
FulfillmentMotherhoodIdentityWomenSocietyRoles
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about women's rights and empowerment at a women's conference.
More from Betty Friedan
All quotes →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
Who knows what women can be when they are finally free to become themselves?
Betty FriedanRead
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