PowerPoint on Second-Wave Feminism

1. HUM16 Arts
& Ideas
American
Culture:
SECOND WAVE
FEMINISM

2. 1. Second-wave Feminist Movement
(1960s-1990s)
 Second-wave feminism saw cultural & political inequalities as
inextricably linked.
 Sought end to de facto systematic discrimination based on
gender
 Distinguished from first wave, which won right to vote
 Critical mass of people recognized & identified w/problem
 Linked to other progressive political movements of the 60s &
70s:
 Civil rights
 Anti-war
 LGBT rights

3. 2. Major issues of
second-wave feminism
 Birth control
 Question: What did widespread access to
birth give women they didn’t have before?
 Education; professional lives; life
expectancy  all while being sexually
active
 Education
 Work (Equal Pay Act 1963)
 Sexual harassment, assault & domestic
violence (Amendment to Title VII of Civil
Rights Act of 1964)
 “Ideal” woman

4. 3a. National Organization for Women
(NOW)
 Founded in 1966
 Founded by a group of people, including
Betty Friedan & Rev. Pauli Murray
 First African-American woman Episcopal
priest
 Betty Friedan  organization's first
president

5. 3b. NOW (con’t.)
 NOW’s goal: to bring about equality for all women
 Campaigned to pass the ERA at state level
 Issues NOW deals with:
 Eliminating discrimination & harassment in workplace, schools, &
justice system.
 securing reproductive justice for all women
 ending all forms of violence against women
 eradicating racism, sexism, & homophobia
 promoting equality & justice in society

6. 4. Betty Friedan, activist
 Bio (1921-2006):
 Born to Russian & Hungarian Jewish parents in Chicago
 Educated at Smith College (psychology)
 Marxist/Leftist
 Career:
 Labor journalist
 Wrote Feminine Mystique in 1963
depicted roles of women in industrial societies
focused attention on role of housewife
referred to problem of gender roles as "the problem
without a name"
became bestseller & contributed to spread of
feminism in the 60s

7. 5. Feminine Mystique: Themes
 1963: Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique attacks idealization of domesticity
 Reveals a systemic problem to middle class white women
I.e., ‘You’re not crazy’ / ‘You’re not alone’
 Question: What is the “problem with no name”?
 “ ‘American women’s unhappiness is merely the most recently won of
women’s rights’ ” (p. 114)
 Afflicted both married & single women (p. 115)
 Question: What does this imply?
 Question: How does Friedan argue against the idea that the “problem with no
name is the result of the loss of femininity that comes with feminism? (See p.
116)

8. 6. Feminine Mystique: cont’d
 Question: Who is Friedan’s audience? Who might not be her audience?
 Primary audience = middle- and upper-class housewives; husbands of these
housewives; middle- and upper-class single women
 Not included: women who aren’t housewives – women who must work
(primarily women of color, working class white women, single mothers)

9. 7. Judy Brady, author
 Bio (1937-2017):
 Educated at University of Iowa
 Freelance writer
 Feminist & environmental activist
 “I Want a Wife”
 Question: What is being satirized in this essay?
Satiric examination of traditionally feminine
gender roles
Satire: use of humor or exaggeration to
highlight or criticize a vice in society,
particularly around social or political
issues.

10. 8. Judy Brady, “I Want a Wife”
 Question: What are some of the characteristics
Brady includes?
 Sexually faithful & available
 Nurturing & caring
 Responsible for care of house/children
 Quiet, but responsive to needs/requests
 Question: How much of Brady’s essay do you
think is still relevant today?

11. 9. Paul Theroux, author
 Bio (1941-):
 Born to Catholic parents in Massachusetts
 Educated at Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst
 Did Peace Corps (Malawi); moved to Uganda after kicked
out for helping political prisoner escape
 Lived in Africa & then Asia
 Settled in U.K.
 Career:
 Best known as a travel essayist & novelist
 “Being a Man” pushes back against traditional
gender roles/stereotypes

12. 10a. Theroux, “Being a Man”
 Question: What is the picture of American
masculinity that Theroux gives? What clues in the
text indicate this view?
 Aggressive
 unintellectual
 Emotionless
 Autonomous
 competitive
 Question: How accurate a depiction of “American
masculinity” is Theroux’s? Based on your knowledge
and experience, does it apply across
cultures/ethnicities?

13. 10b. Theroux, “Being a
Man”
 “And this is also why men often object
to feminism but are afraid to explain
why: of course women have a justified
grievance, but most men believe – and
with reason – that their lives are just as
bad” (p. 162).
 Question: What does Theroux mean, and
is he right?

14. 11. Judy Chicago, artist
 Bio (1939-):
 Born to Jewish communist parents
 Educated from childhood at Art Institute of Chicago
 Attended UCLA for B.A. & M.F.A.
 Born Judy Cohen, changed name after marriage to
“Chicago,” where she was from
 Career:
 Professor of art at Fresno State & Cal Arts
 Postmodern, feminist artist

15. 12. Chicago, Dinner Party (1974-1979)
 Premise:
 Based on Gerda Lerner’s call for women’s
history
 Triangular table with 39 individualized place
settings for famous women from history/myth
 Wing 1: Prehistory
 Wing 2: Decline of Roman Empire + Rise of
Christianity
 Wing 3: Age of Revolution
 Over 400 women contributed to the project