Why Was The Feminine Mystique Such a Phenomenon?: A Clarification

Citation

Liang, Crystal (2018) Why Was The Feminine Mystique Such a Phenomenon?: A Clarification. Other, California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/DBRG-WB35. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:10162017-130817814

Abstract

[Introduction] Since The Feminine Mystique was published in 1963, it has become so influential that it has gathered a mystique of its own. The controversial book has drawn both high praise for "[pulling] the trigger on history" and strong criticism from conservative groups for threatening family values, as well as from scholars for being riddled with methodological errors and for focusing only on white, middle-class women. Confusion abounds in the general public, too. In Stephanie Coontz’s A Strange Stirring, which is about the impact of Friedan’s book, Coontz reveals that many of the women that she interviewed in conducting research for her book believed that they had read it when in fact they had not, and, furthermore, that they often had completely erroneous ideas about its contents (Coontz xvi).

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