Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter

by Rachel Shteir

A new portrait of Betty Friedan, the author and activist acclaimed as the mother of second-wave feminism
 
“A lucid portrait of Friedan as a bold yet flawed advocate for women’s equality.”— Publishers Weekly
 
The feminist writer and activist Betty Friedan (1921–2006), pathbreaking author of The Feminine Mystique , was powerful and polarizing. In this biography, the first in more than twenty years, Rachel Shteir draws on Friedan’s papers and on interviews with family, colleagues, and friends to create a nuanced portrait.
 
Friedan, born Bettye Naomi Goldstein, chafed at society’s restrictions from a young age. As a journalist she covered racism, sexism, labor, class inequality, and anti-Semitism. As a wife and mother, she struggled to balance her work and homemaking. Her malaise as a housewife and her research into the feelings of other women resulted in The Feminine Mystique (1963), which made her a celebrity.
 
Using her influence, Friedan cofounded the National Organization for Women, the National Women’s Political Caucus, and the National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws. She fought for the Equal Rights Amendment, universal childcare, and workplace protections for mothers, but she disagreed with the women’s liberation movement over “sexual politics.” Her volatility and public conflicts fractured key relationships.
 
Shteir considers how Friedan’s Judaism was essential to her feminism, presenting a new Friedan for a new era.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Feminism

428 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 12, 2023

About the author

Rachel Shteir is associate professor, The Theatre School, DePaul University, and author of Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show. She lives in Chicago.

Reviews

[Yenta Knows · Rating 3 out of 5]

This scene, on page 99, is utterly strange. When Friedan is about to switch publishers, “Norton’s WASP publisher … made a counteroffer.”

Friedan described her response this way: “George you made me feel Jewish for trying to sell my book. Go f— yourself.”

This scene begs for context and explanation from the biographer. (None is offered, one of the book’s weaknesses.)

So let me offer a little: What does her outburst suggest about Friedan’s concept of what it means to be Jewish? Evidently being Jewish means being greedy, demanding, rude. Anti-Semites commonly hold these beliefs about Jews, but here is Friedan (who is Jewish) holding those same beliefs. Not a flattering depiction of Jewishness! Nor a generally accurate one, though I agree that Friedan is demonstrating those very characteristics even as objects to being shamed for having them.

And I have to disagree with the author on pages 106-7, when she praises the work of the modernist architect Chloethiel Woodard Smith for “bringing a rare utopian feel” to the urban renewal of southwest Washington. I suspect the author has not visited those flat, soulless blocks of brutalist buildings.

While reading this book I came across this brilliant image:

https://wordsmith.org/words/images/do...

This book is stuck somewhere between the information and knowledge blocks, with occasional flashes of insight. I have to give the author an A for internet research. But a C, at best, for insight.

And I have to ask why the book includes not a single photograph except for the portrait on the cover.

My final takeaway about Friedan: long on energy, determination, and chutzpah. Critically short on patience, consensus-building, and compassion.

[Claire Binkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't known there was a problem with feminism and racism, before. I mean, I assumed the problem I was having with going anywhere was probably that no one could help me due to being distracted by the latest and craziest in the news media.

I think this book puts together a humble argument to respect these women for their struggle yet their successes.

To be honest, I did not approach the book with the knowledge Betty Friedan wrote "The Feminine Mystique," which my mother had told me about before. I looked at it without knowing anything about either woman. I went to a friend's bat mitzvah when we were at the proper age but I am not Jewish, myself. I grew up in a Catholic family and dropped religious faiths after my mother passed away.

Tempus fugit, you know?
I still liked the book, and you might, too.
I'm going to give it back tomorrow, so you might be able to pick it up soon!

[University of Chicago Magazine]

From our pages (Winter/24): Dramaturgy professor Rachel Shteir has published a new biography of Betty Friedan, the feminist activist best known for penning The Feminine Mystique (Norton, 1963) and cofounding the National Organization for Women. Friedan is often ignored or critiqued by feminists today for failing to consider perspectives other than those of White middle-class women. Shteir offers a nuanced view of this controversial figure’s life and legacy, paying special attention to how Friedan’s Judaism informed her feminism.

[Terri Sheets · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in her childhood home so it was a "must read" for me. It was enjoyable reading about her history in Peoria, Illinois. The book was brilliant. A lot of name dropping (as Betty was quite a mover and shaker) and a bit hard to retain all of the hundreds of people she interacted with but beyond that slight criticism is a great depiction of this icon of the women's rights movement.

[Sherri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Ms Shteir, I was fortunate, many years ago, to meet Betty Freidan and assist her, because she was hard of hearing, in a talk she gave at The Learning Annex in NYC
And I helped her answer some of the audience’s questions about her talk. She wasn’t easy. Sherri Rosen, NYC

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more about Ms. Friedan's background and her complicated interactions as the woman's movement picked up speed in the mid century. She was a flawed human being, and was a true leader in a challenging time.

[Theresa]

Very good, thought-provoking biography that focuses on the importance of Friedan's Jewish background.