Back اللغز الأنثوي Arabic La mística de la feminitat Catalan The Feminine Mystique Czech The Feminine Mystique German La mística de la feminidad Spanish رازوری زنانه Persian La Femme mystifiée French המסתורין הנשי HE Կանացիության առեղծվածը (գիրք) Armenian The Feminine Mystique ID
 First edition with a quote from Virgilia Peterson | |
| Author | Betty Friedan |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Feminism |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton |
Publication date | February 19, 1963[1] |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 239 |
| ISBN | 0-393-32257-2 |
The Feminine Mystique is a book by American author Betty Friedan, widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States.[2] First published by W. W. Norton on February 19, 1963, The Feminine Mystique became a bestseller, initially selling over a million copies.[3][4] Friedan used the book to challenge the widely shared belief that "fulfillment as a woman had only one definition for American women after 1949—the housewife-mother."[4]
In 1957, Friedan was asked to conduct a survey of her former Smith College classmates for their 15th anniversary reunion; the results, in which she found that many of them were unhappy with their lives as housewives, prompted her to begin research for The Feminine Mystique, conducting interviews with other suburban housewives, as well as researching psychology, media, and advertising. The book faced criticism for focusing primarily on the experiences of white, middle-class women and overlooking the perspectives of women of color and working-class women. Friedan originally intended to create an article on the topic, not a book, but no magazine would publish the work.[5][6]
Friedan coined the phrase "feminine mystique" to describe the assumptions that women would be fulfilled from their housework, marriage, sexual lives, and children. The prevailing belief was that women who were truly feminine should not want to work, get an education, or have political opinions. Friedan wanted to prove that women were unsatisfied and could not voice their feelings.[7]
- ^ Addison, Heather; Goodwin-Kelly, Mary Kate; Roth, Elaine (2009). Motherhood misconceived: representing the maternal in U.S. film. SUNY Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-4384-2812-3.
- ^ Margalit Fox (5 February 2006). "Betty Friedan, Who Ignited Cause in 'Feminine Mystique,' Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
- ^ Coontz, Stephanie (2011). A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s. New York: Basic Books. pp. 145–149.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) - ^ a b Friedan, Betty (2013). The Feminine Mystique. W.W.Norton & Company, Inc. pp. xi–xx. ISBN 978-0-393-93465-6.
- ^ Muñoz, Jacob. "The Powerful, Complicated Legacy of Betty Friedan's 'The Feminine Mystique'". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2025-05-04.
- ^ Patricia Sullivan (February 5, 2006). "Voice of Feminism's 'Second Wave'". Washington Post. p. 2. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
- ^ "The Feminine Mystique | work by Friedan". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-06-03.