Must Read: The Feminine Mystique

Every now and then, I am going to review a book for the readers of Change.org. It may be a book I just read, or a book that is so timeless - it deserves a fresh review once in awhile.

For the first of the "Must Read" series, I am going to share my review of an oldie, but goodie: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.

While The Feminine Mystique was originally published in 1963, it is a book that I think everyone should read - no matter the generation. Some may think the book is not relevant to the current women's rights movement because it summarizes much of what has been described as the "white woman's plight" - a series of priviledged, domestic disturbances, that don't touch the issues that matter to Third Wave feminists. And while the 1950s middle class growing pains of women who wanted more from life beyond vacuuming and children may seem out dated, I would say we are still dealing with the issues that Friedan outlines in her book, and should use it as a reminder of what we have accomplished in the past fifty years and what else we need to work on.

In this book, I think that women - and men - will find that they have been burdened by many false expectations of society. Friedan demonstrates how we are often too easily manipulated into to giving up our individualism and our freedom of thought and emotion, and instead become apathetic drones prone to a mid-life crisis', which can only be solved by heavy doses of materialism, bad behavior and of course, pharmaceuticals.

Additionally the book reinforced just how important it is to build a relationship with yourself that goes beyond the pursuit of finding your femininity, beyond the national media sex compulsion, beyond living for the fulfillment of you biological function (or clock as it's commonly known) and to really find out what it is that will make you happy as a woman. Not a wife, not a girlfriend, not a daughter, sister or mother - but a woman. As Friedan points out so often in her book - these roles serve to confine us, more than define us and it is important that we are ever watchful of how the feminine mystique can swallow us whole, if we let it:

"It is my thesis that the core problem for women today is not sexual, but a problem of identity - a stunting of evasion of growth that is perpetuated by the feminine mystique. It is my thesis that as the Victorian culture did not permit women to accept or gratify their basic sexual needs to grow, our culture does not permit women to accept or gratify their basic need to grow and fulfill their potential as human beings, a need which is not solely defined by their sexual role."

See what I mean? Timeless. This could still be written today. As we continue to see the over-sexed images in our culture, such as American Apparel ads, it's obvious that women are being used as objects, not people. And even in a day and age when women can choose to be a Playboy bunny or a lawyer or a doctor, not just a housewife, there is still a tendency for women to get stuck and miss out on understanding her full human identity.

Friedan also touches briefly on the idea of a "masculine mystique", which demonstrates how we all are seeking something more and should not stop the journey of self-discovery, self-education and self-fulfillment. Just because society will continue to tells us it is time to settle down and raise children and stop looking for more to our existence - doesn't mean we have to listen. Not in 1963. And certainly not in 2009.