The assigned readings for this week all have to do with a rising feminist consciousness, primarily among straight, white, middle-to-upper class, heterosexual women. When you read them, you will likely note the absence of other types of women. However, some of these texts and the ideas they purport are considered by many to be what launched the second wave of the women’s liberation movement, as it was called. This is why I include them – it is useful to know what they are about, even though they aren’t the entire picture. Remember what I wrote last week about history always being partial. In our next assignment, we will read black lesbian feminists, Chicana cultural theorists, and more to get a broader perspective of what was happening but didn’t get the same amount of publicity.
The Feminine Mystique (1963)
The first reading excerpts from The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. She published this book in 1963 where she identified what is known as “the problem that has no name.” This problem was the general unhappiness Friedan found in surveying women in the 50s and 60s. Even though these women had material comfort, they were unfulfilled with their lives full of housework, child-rearing, cooking, and not working outside the home. Many found inspiration from this book, as you can see in this video of Melissa Harris-Perry or this one featuring a panel of feminist activists brought together by The New York Times during the 100th anniversary of the book. There have been many critiques of this text, including this accessible article from Smithsonian Magazine here.
The Politics of Housework (1970)
This essay breaks down part of “the problem that has no name.” Pat Mainardi distinguishes between the Liberated Woman and Women’s Liberation in “The Politics of Housework.” She claims that the Liberated Woman is sexually active and has a career while Women’s Liberation has to do with sharing housework in the home. Throughout the article, Mainardi illustrates that “the personal is political,” that is to say that the expectation of women to do all of the housework shows how our society undervalues women’s work. She spends the majority of this article discussing the opposition from her husband on sharing the seemingly trivial household chores. At first, Mainardi’s husband agrees that they should do an equal amount of the household chores. As time goes on, however, her husband tries to absolutely refuse to do chores around the house. Mainardi breaks down his statements in opposition to doing housework by explaining their actual and historical meaning—leading back to traditional gender roles for women regarding housework. She concludes this article by listing nine things for women to remember when trying to implement participatory democracy and equity of housework in their homes.
The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm (1970)
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE MAY MAKE SOME OF YOU UNCOMFORTABLE. While Minardi discusses a distinction between the liberated woman and women’s liberation, Anne Koedt looks explicitly at sex and how it can liberate women. In “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm,” Koedt explains that vaginas are not very sensitive and do not allow women to orgasm, while the clitoris is the tissue that allows female-bodied people to orgasm. She exposes that experts have wrongly claimed that women who cannot have vaginal orgasms are frigid, when the truth is that traditional heterosexual sexual positions do not adequately stimulate clitoral tissue. The assumption that mature female orgasms are vaginal is evidence that sex has been defined as heterosexual and by what is pleasurable to men, not women. Koedt calls for women to redefine sexual pleasure so that it is mutually pleasurable to men and women. She concludes this article by explaining why some women claim to have vaginal orgasms and the reasons men maintain the myth of the vaginal orgasm in society.
Indeed sexual liberation and understanding pleasure has been an important area of feminist activism over time. In the first part of this video, sex educator Betty Dodson is interviewed about her work. NOTE: THE CONTENT OF THIS VIDEO MAY BE CONSIDERED EXPLICIT BY SOME VIEWERS. There are also numerous vulva art projects today, that were inspired by the work of Dodson, including the vulva gallery, the vulva art project, and more.
