I can understand a liberated woman in two ways. In the context of 1970s, a liberated woman does comply with the standards of marriage, and traditional gender roles, thus achieving sexual freedom. In the context of modern times I see a liberated woman as one who makes an independent decision on her position in society, is self-sufficient, and can pursue any path in life without being restrained or judged. “Politics of Housework” by Pat Mainardi and “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” by Anne Koedt would refer to the former definition, as these works were written in the 1970s. Pat Mainardi gives a great deal of attention to the unequal housework distribution in a heterosexual family. She explains that throughout history only women have been brainwashed into liking housework and being obsessed with cleanliness by “too many years of seeing television women in ecstasy over their shiny waxed floors or breaking down over their dirty shirt collars.” Pat Mainardi then reinforces this idea with the story of fighting with her husband over the chores. Each time her husband tried to escape doing the chores with excuses like “You will do it better than me” or “I hate it more than you,” consequently gaslighting a woman into thinking that housework is her calling. A liberated woman does not have such a mentality. And with her actions and way of living she sets an example for other women. She becomes proof that other ways of living exist and that they are as satisfying as the traditional ones.

A liberated woman sets an example, first of all, by changing aspects of her personal life. In both “Politics of Housework” and “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” we can see how a large social idea, such as the superior role of men versus women is affecting private life. In a male-dominated society, one concrete belief of men is “My purpose in life is to deal with matters of significance. Yours is to deal with matters of insignificance. You should do the housework” (Mainardi). But who decides the level of significance? Because of a privilege gap, whatever men choose to do will be deemed important, leaving the rest to women. That same idea of male superiority reaches sexual life, establishing vagina as the main character of sex itself. Anne Koedt in her article explains that this narrative was created mostly by men out of their interests, rather than out of biological facts. The facts are such that the vagina plays no role in sexual pleasure of a woman – only a man, while clitoris remains the center of female orgasm. However, because biologically it is almost identical to the penis, there have been men “trying to ignore the clitoris and emphasize the vagina (as did Freud), or, as in some places in the Mideast, actually performing clitoridectomy.” and thus is “a threat to masculinity” (Koedt 33). Historically the role of the clitoris was hidden on purpose because it served as proof of greater equality between the two genders, which threatened masculinity. This example supports once again the feminist tenet “personal is political.”