Response Post: Jan. 25

All of these pieces were very powerful readings that gave me insight into the types of feminism that exists. Friedan’s comparison between the ideal portrait of the suburban housewife and reality was very interesting to read. This made me think about how important it is to balance quantitative research with qualitative research. According to statistics, more and more women are entering into the workforce, which could be interpreted as a positive step towards equality. Friedan does a wonderful job building up this ideal picture of a happy woman, satisfied solely by her devotion to her children and husband. However, what quantitative research reveals is that the women are actually unhappy and are plagued with a feeling of emptiness. If progress in this movement is measured solely by numbers, it depersonalizes the situation and reduces women to just numbers, which may not be the most reliable perspective.

What Brownmiller tried to do with her life’s work is to show how human women are. At times, Brownmiller makes the claim that women are purely victims and the fault is all in the male gender’s hands. I found this uncomfortable to read because I disagree with her claim and Levy’s example of the CAKE organization allows us to see that women are involved in pushing the progress bar back. By reducing women to mere sex symbols and naming one’s organization to represent something crude and raunchy in the name of feminism, women are shown to share the fault as well. I don’t necessarily think that any one group can be blamed for the entire world’s way of thinking about gender. In fact, I think pointing fingers distracts from the important social issues that need to be discussed and reformed.

The piece I found most interesting was Echol’s text on “The Re-Emergence of the “Woman Question”,” because it illuminated the pros and cons of having the civil rights movement coexist with the women’s rights movement. The women spoke about being empowered and silenced at the same time. Thinking about this, I could not decide what was better: to go separately or to keep having it be this way. I don’t think that society was ready for two big revolutionary movements at that time and unfortunately, the women’s rights movement ended up being overshadowed by the goals of the civil right’s movement. However, I found it particularly interesting when Echols commented on how “white female activists” (Echols, 27) were moved by how strong and independent the “black women in SNCC” are. No matter the setbacks of being a passive participant of such a powerful social movement, it is a great step forward to have women connect and inspire each other across different races. This showed their ability to look past racial barriers and to see that they essentially shared the same injustices, dilemmas, hopes, and visions. This is pivotal to uniting women. Not just particular women, but all women. Reading Echol’s piece about this simple connection that was made between very different women was amazing.