Marriage Is Still Acceptable
A new book looking back on The Feminine Mystique explains why Betty Friedan might have paved the way for equal marriages by blowing the roof off male-dominated couplings.
Nearly 50 years after Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique, a new book examines its original intentions and its influence on contemporary America: “Friedan is certainly not remembered as a marriage bolster, but this only strengthens why this biography of a book is necessary. Stephanie Coontz’s dusting off and airing out of the text that became a near-instant feminist legend provides us with an opportunity to reconsider the work and the circumstances it was borne out of, including its flaws as well as undeniable might.”