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[personal profile] walkitout
Location 6307ish in _The Feminine Mystique_ (it's amazing I've made it this far. You would not believe the chapter using the concentration camp metaphor), Friedan is quoting a mental-health educator, a woman who used to be "just a housewife": ""If you knock on any of these doors, how many women would you find whose abilities are being used? You'd find them drinking, or sitting around talking to other women and watching children play because they can't bear to be alone, or watching TV or reading a book.""

I'm going to assume the "drinking" is drinking alcohol, and not in a good way. I'm a little concerned that the ordinary socializing and/or playdates are regarded so negatively. What, we should let the pre-k'ers look after themselves? *shrug* TV gets a horrible rap, and who knows, maybe daytime TV in the early 1960s deserved that horrible reputation; it was before I was born so I don't really know.

But reading a book? You're going to class _that_ as "not using your abilities"? And this is after Friedan just gave a couple examples of women who are no longer "just housewives" because they've started _painting_ or taken up the _violin_ or are taking _one history course at a time_? Seriously?

I know, I take the reading thing quite seriously. But I am going to _shred_ this book when I review it. Not because the author failed to adequately cite people, but because she's unbelievably close-minded and judgmental, and I don't agree with her value system.

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