Transcript Gender, Money, & Power Poli 110J 9.3

“Is this all?”
Betty Friedan
“The modern bride seeks as a conscious
goal that which her grandmother saw as
blind fate and her mother as slavery”
(Political Science 110EB)
Is this all?
• The “Problem that has no name” & the power
dynamics of happiness
– What’s wrong with me?
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• The goal of feminism is, for Friedan, the
freedom to make “the decision as to what one
is going to be,” which has traditionally been
reserved for men. (134)
• The struggle is “simply to become fully
human.” (136)
– Positive freedom
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Roots of the mystique
• “A mystique does not compel its own
acceptance.” (268)
– “Brainwashing”
• Recall Malcolm X
– Must fill real needs
• Cultural/Social: Insecurity caused by the War
• Scientific: Freudian & functionalist
• Economic: Replacing wartime consumption
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Cultural Needs
• “I live through my husband and children. It’s
easier this way. In this world now, it’s easier
to be a woman, if you take advantage of it.”
(273)
– Uniformity
– Uncritical worldview
– Marriage as ready-made identity
– Privatism
• No value in larger social engagement
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• The role of “woman” (i.e. wife, mother) is
defined by the presence of a man
– Young women “‘seek my security in him’ instead
of finding themselves, and each act of selfbetrayal tips the scale further away from identity
to passive self-contempt.” (257)
– The dynamic of systematic sexism here in many
ways resembles that of institutionalized racism.
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• Research: “Marriage today is not only the
culmination of a romantic attachment; more
consciously and clear-headedly than in the
past, it is also a decision to create a
partnership in establishing a comfortable
home, equipped with a great number of
desirable products.” (315)
– A market-oriented concept of love
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Functionalism
• Describes a thing in terms of its function within society
– Ex: Sexual segregation preserves society in its current structure
• On functionalist sociologists: “There can be no doubt that
they were describing things ‘as they were,’ but in so doing,
they were relieved of the responsibility of building theory
from facts, of probing for deeper truths.” (206)
– Marcuse
– Blurs line between “is” and “ought to be”
– Assumes endless present, denies that future can be different
from past
– Identifies the woman with her role
• “Woman is what society says she is” (207)
• Gender essentialism
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Functionalism
• If the eternal present is assumed, the task for
sociologists, educators, and parents is to
“adjust” the individual to “social realities”
– Uncritical
– “At the present historical moment, the best
adjusted girl is probably the one who is intelligent
enough to do well in school, but not so brilliant as
to get all A’s” (205)
• Skilled in her role, but less likely to feel unfulfilled by it
• Defining happiness
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• The social role of women is as a type, not as
individual humans
– “the mysterious miracle of femininity” is realized
simply by being female
– Identifies the individual solely with her biology
• Men go to school to be educated and find careers,
women go to find husbands.
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• “I guess they can’t get over the old notion that
women should be educated to develop their
minds. They deny it, but one can’t help
suspecting that they still believe in careers for
women.” (250)
– Advances lost
– Men are mental and physical, women only
physical
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• It is functional “knowledge” that “only the
exceptional woman can make a go of a
commitment to a career.” (253)
– Either housewife & marriage or career & celibacy
– Defining “normal”
• “What 51% of the population does today, 100% should do
tomorrow.”
– To be exceptional is to be not-normal
– “Somehow, the student gets the point that she does
not want to be the ‘exceptional woman.’”
• Exceptional women can’t land a man
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• “We have to stop being so teacher-centered
and become student-centered. It’s not what
you think they need, but what they think they
need. That’s the functional approach.” (251)
– Social “realities”
– Career training
– Lack of critical dimension
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Freedom of Choice
• Then-current goal of totalized motherhood
counterproductive
– Produced weak, dependent adults
• Women are not forced to choose the life of a
housewife, but how free is their choice to do so?
– Freudian theory & functionalist approach to gender
make homemaker mother central figure in child’s life
• Examples: Autism, neuroses
– Thwarted in efforts at education & career
– Manipulated by marketing, mass media
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Demographic Research
• Appliance sales researchers find 3 types of
female customer:
• True Housewife Type
– Feels indispensible in the home
– No desire to work outside home
– Pride in work
– Suspicious of being replaced by new appliances
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• Career Woman
– Does not believe woman’s place primarily in home
– Does not identify with housework
– Have, had, or would like own work, income
– Buy appliances, but not ideal customers. Too
critical.
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• Balanced Homemaker
– Some outside interests
– Enjoys housework
– Identities with, is fulfilled by domestic tasks
– Readily accepts new appliances
– Wants to use own executive ability in managing
household, does not “expect the impossible” from
appliances
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• Research Conclusions:
– “Since the Balanced Homemaker represents the
market with the greatest future potential, it would be
to the advantage of the appliance manufacturer to
make more and more women aware of the desirability
of belonging to this group.”
– “Educate them through advertising that it is possible
to have outside interests … (without becoming a
Career Woman). The art of good homemaking should
be the goal of every normal woman.”
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“She’ll want them. She’s a real girl.”
• Marketing should target very young teenage girls
– “The young ones will want what the others want, even if
their mothers don’t.”
• Older, more independent women should be made to
feel guilt
– The product will enable you to give your husband and
children the things you should, but aren’t.
• “Suggest that it becomes truly a part of you, reflecting
you.” (317)
– Housework should be not a chore, but a joy. A chance for
self-expression (by women. Men have better things to do.)
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“You can be the woman you yearn to
be with a Plymouth all your own”
• “With increasing skill, the ads glorify [a
woman’s] ‘role’ as an American housewife—
knowing that her very lack of identity in that
role will make her fall for whatever they are
selling.” (327)
– Abstracted, restrictive image of femininity and
pressure to achieve it
– Impossibility of this results in unhappiness,
desperation
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• These qualities create a demand in the market for
products that will help to achieve the feminine
ideal
– Ad for Ultima: “Dedicated to the woman who spends
a lifetime living up to her potential!”
– “The only totally integrated program of nutrient
make-up and skin care—designed to lift a woman’s
good looks to their absolute peak. The woman who
uses Ultima feels a deep sense of fulfillment. A new
kind of pride. For this luxurious Cosmetic Collection is
the ultimate... Beyond it there is nothing.” (quoted on
328)
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• A woman’s sincere desires may be tools of her
oppression
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