Introduction
The Women’s Liberation Movement, beginning approximately in 1968 and continuing through 1982, was a fundamentally life-changing phenomenon that changed the way women thought about themselves and the way they were treated in all facets of American society. Growing out of the major movements of the 1950’s and 1960’s, the modern women’s movement was a natural development in the wave of societal change that encompassed civil rights causes for multiple minority groups and the activist efforts to end the Vietnam War.
Women were involved in all of these causes, just as they were important participants in the 19th century abolitionist movement. Like those early pioneers of women’s rights of the 19th century, women in the 1960’s found that they were treated as second-class citizens within those high-minded activist communities. Movement women were often relegated to menial tasks while men of the counterculture made most the decisions, did most of the writing, and participated in most of the public actions. Women saw other oppressed peoples in America being liberated, saw parallels with their own lives, and started to wonder what about liberation for themselves.
Betty Friedan’s 1963 ground-breaking book, The Feminine Mystique, an expose on the dissatisfaction of roles women were largely boxed into in post-war America, planted the initial seeds for a reevaluation of how women saw themselves and how society shaped their sense of self. Activist women gradually separated themselves from the New Left and formed their own Women’s Liberation Movement. Through innovative experiments in consciousness-raising groups and writings about feminist thought, women activists raised a host of new causes that radically altered the way women perceived themselves and the ways society treated them.
Concepts like birth control, abortion, and reproductive rights, normally swept under the proverbial rug, were discussed openly and publicly. Issues that existed but lacked even a name were brought forth and analyzed, including sexism, sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and domestic violence. Using guerilla theatre and other art-based tactics from 1960’s activism, and utilizing the power of the media, the legislature, the courts, and public opinion, women won important gains in areas such as the workplace, the military, education, sports, healthcare, organized religion, and even home life. Women also took the initiative in addressing problems like rape, battery, and child molestation by setting up rape crisis centers, battery shelters, and emergency hotlines that provided safe spaces and information networks that could aid victimized and neglected women. By the 1980’s women had achieved a revolution of the mind and a revolution of societal status that would forever alter how they would live in American society.
Gloria Steinem
Today's Women's Activist/Author is Gloria Steinem. She is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist, who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Please take a look at her website to familiarize yourself with her.
The Comparative Element: A Magazine Article
Today we are going to read, discuss, and analyze the above magazine article as an extension of understanding the challenges women faced in self-actualization. You should should compare the ideas of the article with the other writing pieces we have looked at in class. Topics for discussion might include the following:
- What do you think the point of this article was?
- How do you feel about the article's arguments?
- How does Steinem use humor to present serious points?
- What are your thoughts about the concept of men being able to menstruate?
- How does men’s behavior reflect back onto how women are seen and treated?
- What is Steinem saying about those in power and those who are powerless?
