the “proper role” for a woman

By: Malynn Robbinson

In the reading The Problem that has No Name by Betty Friedan, the author entertains her readers by pulling them through the emotions that many housewives of the 20th century were experiencing. The emotion of emptiness and dissatisfaction was actually the result of a woman who has experienced the thirst of knowledge and want more. These women have been to college and dreamt of becoming something and being someone but are forced to face the bitter reality that the “proper role” for a woman is to take care of the house. This “problem that has no name”, is the outcome of their restlessness and their yearning to grow more. These women did not realize that was what they wanted because society had told them that this was their dream life and that was the best thing for them. 

Many people already know about the controversy about Rush Limbaugh media broadcast concern women’s contraceptives. I believe that it relates to the reading assignment The Problem that has No Name because in that article society was telling women that they should be happy and this is the life they should want while Limbaugh was saying women shouldn’t use contraceptives to sleep around (although he completely ignored the context of stance the college student was making). There is a similar theme of society (male) control over women and they are both coming from a male perspective.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/rush-limbaugh-sandra-fluke-a-slut-and-prostitute/ 

 Friedan, Betty. "The Problem that has No Name." Issues in Feminism. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1999. Print.

Limbaugh, R. (Actor). (2012). Rush Limbaugh Doubles Down On Sandra Flu [Motion picture]. ABC news.

Those "ridiculous" anti-housewife thoughts..

By: Caroline Crandall

My understanding about The Problem That Has No Name by Betty Friedan is that the problem is the fact that women in the 1950’s and early 60’s had no say in how they wanted to live out their lives. The purpose of a woman’s being then was to get married, have children and then do all housing tasks.  They really had no choice and if they did begin to question why their life was the way that it was or if that was what they really wanted, they would be frowned upon.  The article stated that in that time period, if a woman was feeling unhappy with her life, it was commonly thought that there must have been problems in her marriage or that she had something wrong with her. This caused Women to feel confused and alone, even though there was a large number of women who felt the exact same way. People who were against these ideas of women being something other than a house wife tried to come up with excuses as to why women could be having these “ridiculous” anti-housewife thoughts. The article said that women being educating was causing ideas to be put in their head. It also said, “ the problem was dismissed by telling the house wife how luck she is-her own boss, no time clock, no junior executive gunning for her job. “  First of all, she is not her own boss because she has to take commands form her husband and cater to her children. Second, she does have to follow a time clock because she has a time schedule to get all her daily house chores done. And third, she doesn’t have a junior executive gunning for her job, because no one else wants to have her job!

I enjoyed this quote that I found that pretty much sums up this problem that has no name.

“It is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities - is taking a far greater toll on the physical and mental health of our country than any known disease.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=EZiKAskjPF8&feature=endscreenZ

Wake Up in the Morning

by: Lindsey Ritter

Wake up in the morning go wake up the kids.

Make sure the kids are fed and clothed.

Take out the dogs.

Make sure that their lunches are prepared and packed.

Take the kids to school make sure you are on time!

Hope the kids are on time for school that way you can go to class on time.

Go to class then go to work.

(Make sure work and school fit around the kids schedule in order to pick up the kids for practices and school)

Leave work and pick up the kids.

Take one kid to his baseball practice tonight and then remember tomorrow it is wrestling, then again baseball game and then wrestling match!

Get home and cook a healthy dinner. Because we all know we don’t want our kids to be unhealthy or obese, so something with chicken…I wonder when the kids will get tired of chicken?

Make sure the kids do their homework and then it is off to a shower, brush teeth and BED!

Take out the dogs.

Kids are in bed. Time to go for a run

All sweaty and icky so shower time a must!

Homework time,

Goodnight!

OHH no only 4 hours of sleep AGAIN??

After doing the reading on second wave feminism I started to think to myself is this all for me as well? Now I love my life but constantly feel that I am moving and going this was my week with the kids, I do have help from my significant other but only during the night. The women during the break between the first and second wave were caught in a state of confusion about why they were feeling like something was missing in their lives. That was the freedom of being able to be someone besides a housewife and feeling like there was no choice but to be a housewife. I am not saying there is anything wrong with being a housewife but as we read in the readings “The Problem That Has No Name” women were feeling that something was missing or something was wrong and they were unsure what it was and I believe that most had to do with not having their freedom and not understanding or remembering that women were fighting for their rights and fighting for equality before and that “the chains that bind her in her trap are chains in her own mind and spirit. They are chains made up of mistaken ideas and misinterpreted facts, of incomplete truths and unreal choices,” (290).  If we as women have been told something by the dominating society and Capitalism they want us to continue feeling trapped and put under his thumb, the problem is seeing past those lines and seeing the truth, not feeling tied down in chains or wondering is this it? I also question where we are with society today since women have taken on more roles and many still believe should be the main house keeper and take care of the children. Women now have a job because it is difficult to maintain life without two incomes and many women have to still come home and cook or clean. I am lucky and have a significant other who does help me out (when I ask for it because I am very stubborn and feel that I can take on the world…because I am after all a woman and am very proud!).  However, most men still have the ideology that women need to come home and clean, cook, and take care of the children even after being at work.  So my question then is have we come far enough as some would say we have?

I like to take the example of the original stepford wives because it brought the “concerns and ideologies of second-wave feminism to popular culture, particularly, a woman’s control over her own body,” (Silver, 2002). When Friedan wrote about the women in “the Problem That Has No Name” those concerns that were expressed are replicated in Forbes The Stepford Wives by the two main characters who are fighting Stepford and fighting their inner feelings and their confusion about their town, and the literally interpretation of “fetishizing housework turns women from individuals with goals and ambitions into cleaning appliances: robots,” (Silver, 26).

The original stepford wives trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zUWOeNfa6Y

The original stepford wives entire movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuG8D8oUn_8