129-553: Sexual Politics is the debut book by American writer and activist Kate Millett , based on her PhD dissertation at Columbia University . It was published in 1970 by Doubleday . It is regarded as a classic of feminism and one of radical feminism 's key texts, a formative piece in shaping the intentions of the second-wave feminist movement . In Sexual Politics , an explicit focus is placed on male dominance throughout prominent 20th century art and literature. According to Millett, western literature reflects patriarchal constructions and
258-538: A Time magazine cover story, "The Politics of Sex", which called Sexual Politics a "remarkable book" that provided a coherent theory about the feminist movement. Alice Neel created the depiction of Millett for the August 31, 1970, cover. According to biographer Peter Manso, The Prisoner of Sex was written by Norman Mailer in response to Millett's Sexual Politics . Andrew Wilson, author of Norman Mailer: An American Aesthetic , noted that " The Prisoner of Sex
387-557: A Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature ; she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. A wealthy aunt paid for her education at St Hilda's College, Oxford , gaining an English literature first-class honors degree in 1958. She was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honors having studied at St. Hilda's. After spending about 10 years as an educator and artist, Millett entered
516-637: A freewheeler is that she can say what she pleases because 'nobody's giving me a chair in anything. I'm too old, mean and ornery. Everything depends on how well you argue. ' " In 2012, The Women's Art Colony became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and changed its name to the Millett Center for the Arts. Millett was a leading figure in the women's movement, or second-wave feminism , of the 1960s and 1970s. For example, she and Sidney Abbott , Phyllis Birkby , Alma Routsong , and Artemis March were among
645-504: A Movement, Authorizing Discourse , says that the release of Millett's Sexual Politics (1970) was a pivotal event in the second wave of the feminist movement. Although there were other important moments in the movement, like the founding of the National Organization for Women and release of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan , it was in 1970 that the media gave greater attention to the feminist movement, first with
774-488: A book called Interviews with Betty Friedan containing interviews with Friedan for The New York Times , Working Women and Playboy , among others. Focusing on interviews that relate to Friedan's views on men, women and the American Family, Sheman traced Friedan's life with an analysis of The Feminine Mystique . Friedan (among others) was featured in the 2013 documentary Makers: Women Who Make America , about
903-540: A crime or exclusively a doctor's choice or anyone else involved, and helped form NARAL (now NARAL Pro-Choice America ) at a time when Planned Parenthood wasn't yet supportive. Alleged death threats against her speaking on abortion led to the cancellation of two events, although subsequently one of the host institutions, Loyola College, invited her back to speak on abortion and other homosexual rights issues and she did so. Her draft of NOW's first statement of purpose included an abortion plank, but NOW didn't include it until
1032-417: A feminist perspective, she explored the story of the defenseless girl and the dynamics of the individuals involved in her sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Biographer Roberta M. Hooks wrote, "Quite apart from any feminist polemics, The Basement can stand alone as an intensely felt and movingly written study of the problems of cruelty and submission." Millett said of the motivation of the perpetrator: "It
1161-519: A front-page article in The New York Times and coverage on the three network's news programs about the Women's Strike for Equality event that summer. Millett used psychology, anthropology, the sexual revolution , and literary criticism to explain her theory of sexual politics, which is that western societies have been driven by a belief that men are superior to women. According to Poirot,
1290-462: A jewelry store in Peoria, and Miriam wrote for the society page of a newspaper when Friedan's father fell ill. Her mother's new life outside the home seemed much more gratifying. As a young girl, Friedan was active in both Marxist and Jewish circles; she later wrote how she felt isolated from the latter community at times, and felt her "passion against injustice ... originated from my feelings of
1419-433: A kindergarten teacher and learned to sculpt and paint from 1959 to 1961. She then moved to Japan and studied sculpture. Millett met fellow sculptor Fumio Yoshimura, had her first one-woman show at Tokyo's Minami Gallery, and taught English at Waseda University . She left Japan in 1963 and moved to New York's Lower East Side. Millett taught English and exhibited her works of art at Barnard College beginning in 1964. She
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#17327976481611548-475: A lesbian, here, openly. You've said you were a lesbian in the past." Millett hesitantly responded, "Yes, I am a lesbian". A couple of weeks later, Time 's December 8, 1970, article "Women's Lib: A Second Look" reported that Millett admitted she was bisexual, which it said would likely discredit her as a spokesperson for the feminist movement because it "reinforce[d] the views of those skeptics who routinely dismiss all liberationists as lesbians." In response,
1677-449: A lot of oranges or hid the pills in her mouth for later disposal. She said of the times when she was committed, "To remain sane in a bin is to defy its definition," she said. [Millett] describes with loathing the days of television-induced boredom, nights of drug-induced terror, people deprived of a sense of time, of personal dignity, even of hope. What crime justifies being locked up like this, Millett asks. How can one not be crazy in such
1806-412: A lot of paradoxes in his work, and offered some answers to women desirous of further education. The "Problem That Has No Name" was described by Friedan in the beginning of the book: The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning [that is, a longing] that women suffered in the middle of the 20th century in
1935-687: A major role in the history of American feminism. Justine Blau was also greatly influenced by Friedan. In Betty Friedan: Feminist Blau wrote of the feminist movement's influence on Friedan's personal and professional life. Lisa Fredenksen Bohannon, in Woman's work: The story of Betty Friedan , went deep into Friedan's personal life and wrote about her relationship with her mother. Sandra Henry and Emily Taitz ( Betty Friedan, Fighter for Woman's Rights ) and Susan Taylor Boyd ( Betty Friedan: Voice of Woman's Right, Advocates of Human Rights ), wrote biographies on Friedan's life and works. Journalist Janann Sheman wrote
2064-407: A minute is happy and harmless and could, if encouraged and given time, perhaps be productive as well. Ah, but depression – that is what we all hate. We the afflicted. Whereas the relatives and shrinks ... they rather welcome it: You are quiet and you suffer. Feminist author and historian Marilyn Yalom wrote that "Millett refuses the labels that would declare her insane", continuing "she conveys
2193-509: A place? After several days, she was found by her friend Margaretta D'Arcy . With the assistance of an Irish parliament member and a therapist-psychiatrist from Dublin, Millett was declared competent and released within several weeks. She returned to the United States, became severely depressed, and began taking lithium again. In 1986, Millett stopped taking lithium without adverse reactions. After one lithium-free year, Millett announced
2322-603: A press conference was organized two days later in Greenwich Village by lesbian feminists Ivy Bottini and Barbara Love . It led to a statement in which 30 lesbian and feminist leaders declared their "solidarity with the struggle of homosexuals to attain their liberation in a sexist society". Millett's 1971 film Three Lives is a 16 mm documentary made by an all-woman crew, including co-director Susan Kleckner , cameraperson Lenore Bode, and editor Robin Mide, under
2451-653: A protest rally held at Tehran University on International Women's Day , March 8. About 20,000 women attended a march through the city's Freedom Square ; many of whom were stabbed, beaten, or threatened with acid . Millett and Keir, who had attended the rallies and demonstrations, were removed from their hotel room and taken to a locked room in immigration headquarters two weeks after they arrived in Iran. They were threatened that they might be put in jail and, knowing that homosexuals were executed in Iran, Millett also feared she might be killed when she overheard officials say that she
2580-517: A release form intended for voluntary admissions. During a visit to St. Paul, Minnesota, a couple of weeks later, her mother asked Kate to visit a psychiatrist and, based upon the psychiatrist's suggestion, signed commitment papers for Kate. She was released within three days, having won a sanity trial, due to the efforts of her friends and a pro bono attorney. Following the two involuntary confinements, Millett became depressed, particularly so about having been confined without due process . While in
2709-485: A resolution that framed abortion in more feminist terms that was introduced in the Minneapolis regional conference resulting from the same White House Conference on Families, believing it to be more polarizing, while the drafters apparently thought Friedan's formulation too conservative. As of 2000, she wrote, referring to "NOW and the other women's organizations" as seeming to be in a "time warp", "to my mind, there
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#17327976481612838-486: A rethinking of children's rights broadly understood. Millett added that "one of children's essential rights is to express themselves sexually, probably primarily with each other but with adults as well" and that "the sexual freedom of children is an important part of a sexual revolution ... if you don't change the social condition of children you still have an inescapable inequality". In this interview, Millett criticized those who wished to abolish age of consent laws , saying
2967-525: A review of the book in 1970 that predicted it would become "the Bible of Women's Liberation." The article was written by Marcia Seligson and praised the book as "a piece of passionate thinking on a life-and-death aspect of our public and private lives." Millett, Kate (2000). Sexual Politics (PDF) . University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06889-8 . Kate Millett Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017)
3096-530: A screening of one of her films at University of California, Berkeley , Millett "began talking incoherently". According to her other sister, Mallory Millett-Danaher, "There were pained looks of confusion in the audience, then people whispered and slowly got up to leave." Sally, who was a law student in Nebraska, signed papers to have her younger sister committed. Millett was forcefully taken and held in psychiatric facilities for ten days. She signed herself out using
3225-580: A strong antiwar stance and occasionally causing controversy. She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1942 with a major in psychology . She lived in Chapin House during her time at Smith. In 1943 she spent a year at the University of California, Berkeley on a fellowship for graduate work in psychology with Erik Erikson . She became more politically active, continuing to mix with Marxists (many of her friends were investigated by
3354-560: A survey of college graduates, focusing on their education, subsequent experiences and satisfaction with their current lives. She started publishing articles about what she called "the problem that has no name", and got passionate responses from many housewives grateful that they were not alone in experiencing this problem. The shores are strewn with the casualties of the feminine mystique. They did give up their own education to put their husbands through college, and then, maybe against their own wishes, ten or fifteen years later, they were left in
3483-424: Is a social convention or a political relationship. Romantic love disguises the mismatch in power between men and women, but it leaves women vulnerable to emotional exploitation. Women have less economic power than men, and make less income. Millett says we don't often consider the ways that outright force is used to uphold patriarchy, yet this is the purpose of sexual violence, which is common. Millett often critiques
3612-520: Is all about." While opposing all repression, she wrote, she refused to wear a purple armband as an act of political solidarity, considering it not part of the mainstream issues of abortion and child care . But in 1977, at the National Women's Conference, she seconded a lesbian rights resolution "which everyone thought I would oppose" in order to "preempt any debate" and move on to other issues she believed were more important and less divisive in
3741-418: Is done with marriage contracts. According to her, degradation and power, not sex, are being bought and sold in prostitution. She argues for the decriminalization of prostitution in a process directed by the sex workers themselves. In 1974 and 1977, respectively, Millett published two autobiographical books. Flying (1974), a "stream-of-consciousness memoir about her bisexuality", which explores her life after
3870-503: Is far too much focus on abortion. ... [I]n recent years I've gotten a little uneasy about the movement's narrow focus on abortion as if it were the single, all-important issue for women when it's not." She asked, "Why don't we join forces with all who have true reverence for life, including Catholics who oppose abortion, and fight for the choice to have children?" She joined nearly 200 others in Feminists for Free Expression in opposing
3999-626: Is important to break down the isolation and alienation that hiding in privacy can cause. She wrote in Flying what Alice Henry calls in her off our backs review of Sita an "excruciating public and political 'coming out'" and its effect on her personal, political, and artistic lives. While she discussed some of her love affairs in Flying , in Sita she provides insight into a lesbian love affair and her fears of being alone or inadequate. Henry writes, "Kate's transparent vulnerability and attempts to get to
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4128-400: Is in him to be". The restrictions of the 1950s, and the trapped, imprisoned feeling of many women forced into these roles, spoke to American women who soon began attending consciousness-raising sessions and lobbying for the reform of oppressive laws and social views that restricted females. The book became a bestseller, which many historians believe was the impetus for the " second wave " of
4257-429: Is structured as a contest. His rhetoric against her prose, his charm against her earnestness, his polemic rage against her vitriolic charges. The aim is to convert the larger audience, the stronger presence as the sustaining truth. The Prisoner of Sex combines self parody and satire..." While Millett was speaking about sexual liberation at Columbia University, a woman in the audience asked her, "Why don't you say you're
4386-647: Is the story of the suppression of women. Gertrude seems to have wanted to administer some terrible truthful justice to this girl: that this was what it was to be a woman". Millett and Sophie Keir, a Canadian journalist, traveled to Tehran , Iran in 1979 for the Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom to work for Iranian women's rights. Their trip followed actions taken by Ayatollah Khomeini's government to prevent girls from attending schools with boys, to require working women to wear veils, and not to allow women to divorce their husbands. Thousands of women attended
4515-515: Is unsound, there is a kind of despair that takes over..." In The Loony Bin Trip , Millett wrote that she dreaded her depressed periods: At one point, listening to others talk about her "freaking out," Millett muses, "How little weight my own perceptions seem to have," and goes on: "Depression is the victim's dread, not mania. For we could enjoy mania if we were permitted by the others around us ... A manic person permitted to think ten thousand miles
4644-571: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to stop ignoring, and start treating with dignity and urgency, claims filed involving sex discrimination. They successfully campaigned for a 1967 Executive Order extending the same affirmative action granted to blacks to women, and for a 1968 EEOC decision ruling illegal sex-segregated help want ads, later upheld by the Supreme Court. NOW was vocal in support of
4773-566: The FBI ). In her memoirs, she claimed that her boyfriend at the time had pressured her into turning down a Ph.D. fellowship for further study and abandoning her academic career. After leaving Berkeley, Betty became a journalist for leftist and labor union publications. Between 1943 and 1946 she wrote for Federated Press and between 1946 and 1952 she worked for the United Electrical Workers ' UE News . One of her assignments
4902-463: The First Women's Bank and Trust Company . In 1970 NOW, with Friedan leading the cause, was instrumental in the U.S. Senate's rejection of President Richard M. Nixon 's Supreme Court nominee G. Harrold Carswell , who had opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act granting (among other things) women workplace equality with men. On August 26, 1970, the 50th anniversary of the Women's Suffrage Amendment to
5031-639: The National Women's Political Caucus . Friedan was also a strong supporter of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution that passed the United States House of Representatives (by a vote of 354–24) and Senate (84–8, with 7 not voting) following intense pressure by women's groups led by NOW in the early 1970s. Following Congressional passage of the amendment, Friedan advocated ratification of
5160-470: The Pornography Victims' Compensation Act . "To suppress free speech in the name of protecting women is dangerous and wrong," said Friedan. "Even some blue-jean ads are insulting and denigrating. I'm not adverse to a boycott, but I don't think they should be suppressed." In 1968, Friedan signed the " Writers and Editors War Tax Protest " pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against
5289-550: The Women's Art Colony and Tree Farm , a community of women artists and writers and Christmas tree farm. Two years later she was an educator at the University of California, Berkeley . In 1980, Millett was one of the ten invited artists whose work was exhibited in the Great American Lesbian Art Show at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles, although Millett identified as bisexual. Millett
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5418-713: The anti-psychiatry movement. As a representative of MindFreedom International , she spoke out against psychiatric torture at the United Nations during the negotiations of the text of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2005). In 1978, Millett became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP). WIFP is an American nonprofit publishing organization. The organization works to increase communication between women and connect
5547-443: The heteronormativity of society. She argues that men have established power over women, but that this power is the result of social constructs rather than innate or biological qualities. The book begins by quoting Henry Miller and Norman Mailer . Millett examines sex scenes by both authors in which a male main character seduces a compliant woman who is insatiably hungry for sex, then humiliates, beats, sexually assaults, or murders
5676-554: The women's movement in the United States, and significantly shaped national and world events. Friedan originally intended to write a sequel to The Feminine Mystique , which was to be called Woman: The Fourth Dimension , but instead only wrote an article by that title, which appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal in June 1964. Friedan published six books. Her other books include The Second Stage , It Changed My Life: Writings on
5805-513: The 1960s Friedan was critical of polarized and extreme factions of feminism that attacked groups such as men and homemakers. One of her later books, The Second Stage (1981), critiqued what Friedan saw as the extremist excesses of some feminists. Friedan was born Bettye Naomi Goldstein on February 4, 1921, in Peoria, Illinois , to Harry and Miriam (Horwitz) Goldstein, whose secular Jewish families were from Russia and Hungary. Harry owned
5934-529: The 1960s and 1970s, Millett taught at Waseda University , Bryn Mawr College , Barnard College , and the University of California, Berkeley . Some of her later written works are The Politics of Cruelty (1994), about state-sanctioned torture in many countries, and Mother Millett (2001), a book about her relationship with her mother. Between 2011 and 2013, she won the Lambda Pioneer Award for Literature , received Yoko Ono 's Courage Award for
6063-468: The 1964 Civil Rights Act to enforce more job opportunities among American women met with fierce opposition within the organization. Siding with arguments from the group's African American members, many of NOW's leaders accepted that the vast number of male and female African Americans who lived below the poverty line needed more job opportunities than women within the middle and upper class. Friedan stepped down as president in 1969. In 1973, Friedan founded
6192-537: The 1970 anthology Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement , edited by Robin Morgan . She became a spokesperson for the feminist movement following the success of the book Sexual Politics (1970), but struggled with conflicting perceptions of her as arrogant and elitist, and the expectations of others to speak for them, which she covered in her 1974 book, Flying . Millett
6321-668: The Arts , and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame . Millett was born and raised in Minnesota, and then spent most of her adult life in Manhattan and the Woman's Art Colony, established in Poughkeepsie, New York , which became the Millett Center for the Arts in 2012. Millett came out as a lesbian in 1970, the year the book Sexual Politics was published. However, late in the year 1970 she came out as bisexual. She
6450-515: The Bowery was condemned and Yoshimura threatened divorce. To manage the depression, Millett again began taking lithium. In 1980, with support of two friends and photojournalist Sophie Keir, Millett stopped taking lithium to improve her mental clarity, relieve diarrhea and hand tremors, and better uphold her philosophies about mental health and treatment. She began to feel alienated and was "snappish" as Keir watched for behavioral changes. Her behavior
6579-728: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ; at the Third National Conference of State Commissions on the Status of Women they were prohibited from issuing a resolution that recommended the EEOC carry out its legal mandate to end sex discrimination in employment. They thus gathered in Friedan's hotel room to form a new organization. On a paper napkin Friedan scribbled the acronym "NOW". Later more people became founders of NOW at
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#17327976481616708-628: The Constitution , Friedan organized the national Women's Strike for Equality , and led a march of an estimated 20,000 women in New York City. While the march's primary objective was promoting equal opportunities for women in jobs and education, protestors and organizers of the event also demanded abortion rights and the establishment of child-care centers. Friedan spoke about the Strike for Equality: All kinds of women's groups all over
6837-530: The DNC Friedan played a very prominent role and addressed the convention, although she clashed with other women, notably Steinem, on what should be done there, and how. One of the most influential feminists of the twentieth century, Friedan (in addition to many others) opposed equating feminism with lesbianism. As early as 1964, very early in the movement, and only a year after the publication of The Feminine Mystique , Friedan appeared on television to address
6966-530: The October 1966 NOW Organizing Conference. Friedan, with Pauli Murray , wrote NOW's statement of purpose; the original was scribbled on a napkin by Friedan. Under Friedan, NOW fiercely advocated the legal equality of women and men. NOW lobbied for enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 , the first two major legislative victories of the movement, and forced
7095-517: The Repeal of Abortion Laws , renamed National Abortion Rights Action League after the Supreme Court had legalized abortion in 1973. In 1970 Friedan led other feminists in derailing the nomination of Supreme Court nominee G. Harrold Carswell , whose record of racial discrimination and antifeminism made him unacceptable and unfit to sit on the highest court in the land to virtually everyone in
7224-536: The United States. Each suburban [house]wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries ... she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question – "Is this all?" Friedan asserted that women are as capable as men for any type of work or any career path against arguments to the contrary by the mass media, educators and psychologists. Her book was important not only because it challenged hegemonic sexism in US society but because it differed from
7353-671: The University of Minnesota's Mayo wing, Kate had her mother removed from the nursing home and returned to her apartment, where attendants managed her care. During this period, Millett could also "bully" her mother for her lack of cultural sophistication and the amount of television she watched and could be harsh with caregivers. Millett was not the "polite, middle-class girl" that many parents of her generation and social circle desired; she could be difficult, brutally honest, and tenacious. Liza Featherstone, author of "Daughterhood Is Powerful", says that these qualities helped to make her "one of
7482-517: The Vietnam War. Friedan cofounded WoMen Against Gun Violence with Ann Reiss Lane in 1994. Friedan is credited for starting the contemporary feminist movement and writing a book that is one of the cornerstones of American feminism. Her activist work and her book The Feminine Mystique have been a critical influence to authors, educators, writers, anthropologists, journalists, activists, organizations, unions, and everyday women taking part in
7611-432: The Women's Movement , Beyond Gender and The Fountain of Age . Her autobiography, Life so Far , was published in 2000. She also wrote for magazines and a newspaper: In 1966 Friedan co-founded, and became the first president of the National Organization for Women . Some of the founders of NOW, including Friedan, were inspired by the failure of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce Title VII of
7740-477: The amendment in the states and supported other women's rights reforms: she founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws but was later critical of the abortion-centered positions of many liberal feminists. Regarded as an influential author and intellectual in the United States, Friedan remained active in politics and advocacy until the late 1990s, authoring six books. As early as
7869-491: The attainment of previously unimaginable "legal abortion, greater professional equality between the sexes, and a sexual freedom" in part to Millett's efforts. The feminist , human rights , peace , civil rights , and anti-psychiatry movements were some of Millett's principal causes. Her books were motivated by her activism, such as woman's rights and mental health reform, and several were autobiographical memoirs that explored her sexuality, mental health, and relationships. In
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#17327976481617998-455: The book Millett consistently examines the connection between sexuality, power, and societal expectations. Adding on to this she discusses the social construction of femininity and how women's bodies have been objectified and commodified. She discusses the impact of societal expectations on women's self-perception and relationships and examines how, due to the socialization of children, gender roles are often ingrained from an early age. She discusses
8127-564: The book, "Millett writes about the situation—her mother's distance and imperiousness, her family's failure to recognize the humanity of the old and the insane—with brutal honesty. Yet she also describes moments of forgiveness, humility and admiration." During this time, she developed a close relationship, previously inconceivable, with her mother, which she considered "a miracle and a grace, a gift." Her relationships with her sisters were troubled during this time, but they all came to support their mother's apartment-living. The suggestion of her role as
8256-1022: The book, which received widespread media coverage, "was considered to be the first book-length exposition of second wave radical feminist theory." Published accounts of Millett's lesbianism played a part in the fracture in the feminist movement over lesbians' role within the movement and reduced her effectiveness as a women's rights activist. However, Millett identified as bisexual by late 1970. Scholar Camille Paglia described Millett's scholarship as deeply flawed, declaring that "American feminism's nose dive began" when Millett achieved prominence. According to Paglia, Millett's Sexual Politics "reduced complex artworks to their political content and attacked famous male artists and authors for their alleged sexism," thereby sending serious academic literary appreciation and criticism into eclipse. Millett wrote her autobiographical books Flying (1974) and Sita (1977) about coming out as gay, partly an important consciousness-raising activity. She realized beginning an open dialogue
8385-531: The civil rights and feminist movements. Friedan's impassioned testimony before the Senate helped sink Carswell's nomination. In 1971 Friedan, along with many other leading women's movement leaders, including Gloria Steinem (with whom she had a legendary rivalry) founded the National Women's Political Caucus . In 1972 , Friedan unsuccessfully ran as a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention in support of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm . That year at
8514-428: The country will be using this week on August 26 particularly, to point out those areas in women's life which are still not addressed. For example, a question of equality before the law; we are interested in the equal rights amendment. The question of child care centers which are totally inadequate in the society, and which women require, if they are going to assume their rightful position in terms of helping in decisions of
8643-507: The early 1950s, women were allowed inside the Oak Room and Bar during the evenings, but still barred until 3 p.m. on weekdays, while the stock exchanges operated. In February 1969, Friedan and other members of NOW held a sit-in and then picketed to protest this; the gender restriction was removed a few months later. Despite the success NOW achieved under Friedan, her decision to pressure Equal Employment Opportunity to use Title VII of
8772-903: The effort to add the Equal Rights Amendment ( ERA ) to the U.S. Constitution . She accepted lesbian sexuality, albeit not its politicization. In 1995, at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, she found advice given by Chinese authorities to taxi drivers that naked lesbians would be "cavorting" in their cars so that the drivers should hang sheets outside their cab windows, and that lesbians would have AIDS and so drivers should carry disinfectants, to be "ridiculous", "incredibly stupid" and "insulting". In 1997, she wrote that "children ... will ideally come from mother and father." She wrote in 2000, "I'm more relaxed about
8901-438: The efforts her mother made to give her life, support her and raise her, Millett became a care-giver and coordinator of many daily therapies, and pushed her mother to be active. She wanted to give her "independence and dignity". In the article "Her Mother, Herself", Pat Swift wrote: "Helen Millett might have been content to go "gently into that good night"—she was after all more afraid of the nursing home than dying—but daughter Kate
9030-622: The fact the media was, at that point, trying to dismiss the movement as a joke and centering argument and debate around whether or not to wear bras and other issues considered ridiculous. In 1982, after the second wave, she wrote a book for the post-feminist 1980s called The Second Stage , about family life, premised on women having conquered social and legal obstacles. She pushed the feminist movement to focus on economic issues, especially equality in employment and business as well as provision for child care and other means by which both women and men could balance family and work. She tried to lessen
9159-543: The feminist movement. Allan Wolf, in The Mystique of Betty Friedan writes: "She helped to change not only the thinking but the lives of many American women, but recent books throw into question the intellectual and personal sources of her work." Although there have been some debates on Friedan's work in The Feminine Mystique since its publication, there is no doubt that her work for equality for women
9288-409: The focuses on abortion, as an issue already won, and on rape and pornography, which she believed most women did not consider to be high priorities. When she grew up in Peoria, Illinois , she knew only one gay man. She said, "the whole idea of homosexuality made me profoundly uneasy." She later acknowledged that she had been very square, and was uncomfortable about homosexuality. "The women's movement
9417-537: The full-time homemaker role which Friedan deemed stifling. In her book, Friedan described a depressed suburban housewife who dropped out of college at the age of 19 to get married and raise four children. She spoke of her own 'terror' at being alone, wrote that she had never once in her life seen a positive female role-model who worked outside the home and also kept a family, and cited numerous cases of housewives who felt similarly trapped. From her psychological background she criticized Freud 's penis envy theory, noting
9546-605: The general emphasis of 19th- and early 20th-century arguments for expanding women's education , political rights , and participation in social movements . While "first-wave" feminists had often shared an essentialist view of women's nature and a corporatist view of society, claiming that women's suffrage , education, and social participation would increase the incidence of marriage , make women better wives and mothers, and improve national and international health and efficiency , Friedan based women's rights in what she called "the basic human need to grow, man's will to be all that
9675-636: The graduate school program for English and comparative literature at Columbia University in 1968, during which she taught English at Barnard . While there, she championed student rights, women's liberation, and abortion reform. She completed her dissertation in September 1969 and was awarded her doctorate, with distinction, in March 1970. Millett taught English at the University of North Carolina after graduating from Oxford University, but she left mid-semester to study art. In New York City she worked as
9804-700: The heroine in Mother Millett , however, may have been "at the expense of her two siblings". In 1961 Millett moved to Japan and met fellow sculptor Fumio Yoshimura . In 1963 Yoshimura and Millett left Japan and moved to New York's Lower East Side in the Bowery district. In 1965 they married to prevent Yoshimura from being deported, and during their marriage Millett said that they were "friends and lovers". She dedicated her book Sexual Politics to him. Author Estelle C. Jelinek says that during their marriage he "loves her, leads his own creative life, and accepts her woman lovers". In 1985 they were divorced. At
9933-467: The history of Iranian women", albeit told from the perspective of a feminist from the western world. Millett died in Paris on September 6, 2017, from cardiac arrest, eight days before her 83rd birthday. Her spouse Sophie Keir was with her at the time of her death. Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( / ˈ f r iː d ən , f r iː ˈ d æ n , f r ɪ -/ ; February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006)
10062-678: The injustice of anti-Semitism". She attended Peoria High School , and became involved in the school newspaper. When her application to write a column was turned down, she and six other friends launched a literary magazine called Tide, which discussed home life rather than school life. Friedan attended the women's Smith College in 1938. She won a scholarship prize in her first year for outstanding academic performance. In her second year, she became interested in poetry and had many poems published in campus publications. In 1941, she became editor-in-chief of SCAN (Smith College Associated News). The editorials became more political under her leadership, taking
10191-600: The issue was not focused on children's rights but "being approached as the right of men to have sex with kids below the age of consent" and added that "no mention is made of relationships between women and girls". Kate wrote Mother Millett (2001) about her mother, who in her later years developed several serious health problems, including a brain tumor and hypercalcaemia . Made aware of her mother's declining health, Millett visited her in Minnesota; their visits included conversations about their relationship and outings to baseball games, museums, and restaurants. When her mother
10320-415: The legalization of abortion, an issue that divided some feminists. Also divisive in the 1960s among women was the Equal Rights Amendment , which NOW fully endorsed; by the 1970s, women and labor unions opposed to ERA warmed up to it and began to support it fully. NOW also lobbied for national daycare. NOW also helped women get equal access to public places, which they sometimes did not have. For example, by
10449-411: The lurch by divorce. The strongest were able to cope more or less well, but it wasn't that easy for a woman of forty-five or fifty to move ahead in a profession and make a new life for herself and her children or herself alone. Friedan then decided to rework and expand this topic into a book, The Feminine Mystique . Published in 1963, it depicted the roles of women in industrial societies , especially
10578-572: The male authors of the Western canon . The historian Arthur Marwick described Sexual Politics as, alongside Shulamith Firestone 's The Dialectic of Sex (1970), one of the two key texts of radical feminism. Doubleday 's trade division, although it declined to reprint it when it went out of print briefly, said Sexual Politics was one of the ten most important books that it had published in its hundred years of existence and included it in its anniversary anthology. The New York Times published
10707-475: The members of CR One, the first lesbian-feminist consciousness-raising group, although Millett identified as bisexual by late 1970. In 1966, Millett became a committee member of National Organization for Women and subsequently joined the New York Radical Women , Radical lesbians , and Downtown Radical Women organizations. She contributed the piece "Sexual politics (in literature)" to
10836-401: The members of CR One, the first lesbian-feminist consciousness-raising group. In an interview with Mark Blasius, Millett was sympathetic to the concept of intergenerational sex , describing age of consent laws as "very oppressive" to gay male youth in particular but repeatedly reminding the interviewer that the question cannot rest on the sexual access of older men or women to children but
10965-496: The mental hospitals, she was given "mind-altering" drugs or restrained, depending upon whether she complied or not. She was stigmatized for having been committed and diagnosed with manic depression (now commonly called bipolar disorder ). The diagnosis affected how she was perceived by others and her ability to attain employment. In California doctors had recommended that she take lithium to manage wide manic and depression swings. Her depression became more severe when her housing in
11094-577: The most influential radical feminists of the 1970s." They could also make for difficult interpersonal relationships. Millett wrote several autobiographical memoirs, with what Featherstone calls "brutal honesty," about herself, her husband, lovers, and family. Her relationship with her mother was strained by her radical politics, domineering personality, and unconventional lifestyle. Helen was particularly upset about examination of her lesbianism in her books. (Millett identified as bisexual by late 1970. ) Family relationships were further strained after Millett
11223-421: The name Women's Liberation Cinema. The 70-minute film focuses on three women—Mallory Millett-Jones, the director's sister; Lillian Shreve, a chemist; and Robin Mide, an artist—reminiscing about their lives. Vincent Canby, The New York Times ' art critic, wrote: " Three Lives is a good, simple movie in that it can't be bothered to call attention to itself, only to its three subjects, and to how they grew in
11352-483: The nationwide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote . The national strike was successful beyond expectations in broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City alone attracted over 50,000 people. In 1971, Friedan joined other leading feminists to establish
11481-440: The news to stunned family and friends. Millett's involvement with psychiatry caused her to attempt suicide several times due to both damaging physical and emotional effects but also because of the slanderous nature of psychiatric labeling that affected her reputation and threatened her very existence in the world. She believed that her depression was due to grief and feeling broken. She said, "When you have been told that your mind
11610-722: The next year. In 1980, she believed abortion should be in the context of "the choice to have children", a formulation supported by the Roman Catholic priest organizing Catholic participation in the White House Conference on Families for that year, though perhaps not by the bishops above him. A resolution embodying the formulation passed at the conference by 460 to 114, whereas a resolution addressing abortion, ERA and "sexual preference" passed by only 292–291 and that only after 50 opponents of abortion had walked out and so hadn't voted on it. She disagreed with
11739-402: The origins of patriarchy, argued that sex-based oppression was both political and cultural, and posited that undoing the traditional family was the key to true sexual revolution. In its first year on the market, the book sold 80,000 copies and went through seven printings and is considered to be the movement's manifesto. As a symbol of the women's liberation movement, Millett was featured in
11868-463: The paranoid terror of being judged cruelly by others for what seems to the afflicted person to be a reasonable act." Angered by institutional psychiatric practices and lenient involuntary commitment processes, Millett became an activist. With her lawyer, she changed the State of Minnesota's commitment law so that a trial is required before a person is involuntarily committed. Millett was active in
11997-407: The programme, moved in on her and tried to kiss her. Millett pushed him away but reportedly later asked for a tape of the show to entertain her friends. Throughout the programme Reed used sexist language. Millett was also involved in prison reform and campaigns against torture. Journalist Maureen Freely wrote of Millett's viewpoint regarding activism in her later years: "The best thing about being
12126-419: The public with forms of women-based media. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Millett was involved in a dispute with the New York City authorities, who wanted to evict her from her home at 295 Bowery as part of a massive redevelopment plan. Millett and other tenants held out but ultimately lost their battle. Their building was demolished, and the residents were relocated. Kristan Poirot, author of Mediating
12255-415: The rallies and demonstrations that will be taking place all over the country. Others will be writing things that will help them to define where they want to go. Some will be pressuring their Senators and their Congressmen to pass legislations that affect women. I don't think you can come up with any one point, women will be doing their own thing in their own way. Friedan founded the National Association for
12384-410: The reactionary character of psychoanalysis" was inspired by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir 's The Second Sex (1949). The critic Camille Paglia called Sexual Politics an "atrocious book", which "reduced complex artworks to their political content". She accused it of spawning what she sees as the excesses of women's studies departments, especially for attacks on the alleged pervasive sexism of
12513-405: The root of herself and grasp her lover are typical of many women who love women." Millett recorded her visit to Iran and the demonstrations by Iranian feminists against the fundamentalist shift in Iran politics under Khomeini's government. Her book Going to Iran , with photography by Sophie Keir (1979), is "a rare and therefore valuable eyewitness account of a series of important developments in
12642-449: The same male-dominated society that Miss Millett, in her Sexual Politics , so systematically tore apart, shook up, ridiculed and undermined—while, apparently, tickling it pink." It received "generally excellent reviews" following its premiere at a New York City theater. In her 1971 book The Prostitution Papers , Millett interprets prostitution as residing at the core of the female's condition, exposing women's subjection more clearly than
12771-538: The same name. The psychoanalyst Juliet Mitchell argues that Millett, like many other feminists, misreads Freud and misunderstands the implications of psychoanalytic theory for feminism. Christina Hoff Sommers writes that, by teaching women that politics is "essentially sexual" and that "even the so-called democracies" are "male hegemonies", Sexual Politics helped to move feminism in a different direction, toward an ideology that Sommers calls "gender feminism". The author Richard Webster writes that Millett's "analysis of
12900-425: The sexual revolution of the 1960s, arguing that it did not bring about true liberation for women. She explores how traditional gender roles persisted despite changes in sexual behavior and norms. as well as this she later delves into the history and politics of sexuality, which is where she discusses how sexual pleasure has been defined and controlled throughout history by men and their expectations for women. Throughout
13029-500: The society around her, the military, the police, political office, science, etc., are populated almost exclusively by men. Even the concept of God is male. Because men hold all these positions of power they dominate the relationship between the sexes; women are subordinate. Men are rewarded in life for adopting an attitude of dominance, whereas women are encouraged to be passive and ignorant. This training makes patriarchy appear natural, as though it were determined by biology, when in fact it
13158-404: The society. The question of a women's right to control her own reproductive processes, that is, laws prohibiting abortion in the state or putting them into criminal statutes; I think that would be a statute that we would [be] addressing ourselves to. So I think individual women will react differently; some will not cook that day, some will engage in dialog with their husband[s], some will be out at
13287-560: The success of Sexual Politics in what was described in The New York Times Book Review as an example of "dazzling exhibitionism". Millett captured life as she thought, experienced and lived it, in a style like a documentary film. Sita (1977) explores her sexuality, particularly her lesbian lover who committed suicide and the effect on Millett's personal and private life. Millett and Sidney Abbott , Phyllis Birkby , Alma Routsong , and Artemis March were among
13416-579: The time of her death, Millett had recently married Sophie Keir, her partner for 39 years. Mental illness affected Millett's personal and professional life from 1973, when she lived with her husband in California and was an activist and teacher at the University of California, Berkeley . Yoshimura and Sally, Kate's eldest sister, became concerned about Kate's extreme emotions. Her family claimed that she went for as many as five consecutive nights without sleep and could talk nonsensically for hours. During
13545-460: The ways in which societal expectations shape children's understanding of gender and sexuality. She touches upon and analyses Freudian ideas. to explain her points. Throughout the chapter on The Counterrevolution she delves into Freud's ideas and offers new interpretations of them. The rest of the book is largely her literary reflections of different authors and books including Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H Lawrence and other people. Sexual Politics
13674-494: The whole issue now." In 2022 the board of trustees of the Peoria Public Schools school district considered renaming Washington Gifted School after Friedan, but a board member brought up comments by Friedan perceived to be discriminatory against LGBT people, and so another name, Reservoir Gifted Academy, was chosen for the school. She supported the concept that abortion is a woman's choice, that it shouldn't be
13803-434: The women. Millett argues that the scenes have political undertones. By punishing women for their sexuality the male characters enforce the rules of patriarchy , which Millett defines as "the birthright priority whereby males rule females." She feels these male characters are stand-ins for the authors themselves, whom she feels are mired in violent sexual myths designed to maintain men as a ruling class. In contrast, she applauds
13932-510: The writer Jean Genet for writing queer sex scenes that critically examine these myths. Genet's work points to the "sick delirium of power and violence" that must be analyzed if society is to achieve sexual liberation . These literary scenes serves as examples of what Millett names "sexual politics." She clarifies that she does not mean politics in the narrow sense of political parties and elections. Instead, politics describes any situation in which one group of people has power over another. In
14061-468: Was 14, "consigning them to a life of genteel poverty". Her mother was a teacher and insurance saleswoman. She had two sisters, Sally and Mallory; the latter was one of the subjects of Three Lives . Of Irish Catholic heritage, Kate Millett attended parochial schools in Saint Paul throughout her childhood. Millett graduated in 1956 magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota with
14190-526: Was a delay at the airport and she extended her stay in Ireland. She was involuntarily committed in Ireland after airport security "determined from someone in New York" that she had a "mental illness" and had stopped taking lithium. While confined, she was heavily drugged. To combat the aggressive pharmaceutical program of "the worst bin of all", she counteracted the effects of Thorazine and lithium by eating
14319-580: Was a lesbian. After an overnight stay, the women were put on a plane that landed in Paris. Although Millett was relieved to have arrived safely in France, she was worried about the fate of Iranian women left behind, "They can't get on a plane. That's why international sisterhood is so important." She wrote about the experience in her 1982 book Going to Iran . Millett is featured in the feminist history film She's Beautiful When She's Angry (2014). Sexual Politics originated as Millett's PhD dissertation and
14448-525: Was also a contributor to On the Issues magazine, and continued writing into the early 2000s. She discussed state-sanctioned torture in The Politics of Cruelty (1994), bringing attention to the use of torture in many countries. Millett was involved in the controversy resulting from her appearance on a UK television programme called After Dark . Actor Oliver Reed , who had been drinking during
14577-479: Was among a group of young, radical, and untenured educators who wanted to modernize women's education; Millett wanted to provide them with "the critical tools necessary to understand their position in a patriarchal society." Her viewpoints on radical politics, her "stinging attack" against Barnard in Token Learning , and a budget cut at the college led to her being dismissed on December 23, 1968. Her artwork
14706-543: Was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century. In 1966, Friedan co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men.” In 1970, after stepping down as NOW's first president, Friedan organized
14835-482: Was an American feminist writer , educator, artist, and activist. She attended the University of Oxford and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honors after studying at St Hilda's College, Oxford . She has been described as "a seminal influence on second-wave feminism ", and is best known for her book Sexual Politics (1970), which was based on her doctoral dissertation at Columbia University . Journalist Liza Featherstone attributes
14964-497: Was an important theoretical touchstone for the second wave feminism of the 1970s. It was also extremely controversial. Norman Mailer , whose work, especially his novel An American Dream (1965), had been criticised by Millett, wrote the article " The Prisoner of Sex " in Harper's Magazine in response, attacking Millett's claims and defending Miller and Lawrence, and later extensively attacked her writings in his non-fiction book of
15093-455: Was featured in an exhibit at Greenwich Village's Judson Gallery. During these years Millett became interested in the peace and Civil Rights Movement , joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and participated in their protests. In 1971, Millett taught sociology at Bryn Mawr College . She started buying and restoring property that year, near Poughkeepsie, New York ; this became
15222-439: Was having none of that. Feminist warrior, human rights activists, gay liberationist, writer and artist, Kate Millett has not gone gently through life and never hesitates to rage at anyone—friend or foe, family or the system—to right a perceived wrong. When the dignity and quality of her ailing mother's life was at stake, this book's unfolding tale became inevitable." Even though Helen played a role in having her daughter committed to
15351-415: Was involuntarily committed to psychiatric wards and again when she wrote The Loony Bin Trip . Millett focused on her mother in Mother Millett , a book about how she was made aware by her sister Sally of the seriousness of Helen Millett's declining health and poor nursing home care. Kate removed her mother from the home and returned her to an apartment, where caregivers managed her health and comfort. In
15480-577: Was largely influenced by Simone de Beauvoir 's 1949 book The Second Sex , although Beauvoir's text is known for being more intellectually-focused and less emotionally invigorating than Millett's text. Sexual Politics has been seen as a classic feminist text, said to be "the first book of academic feminist literary criticism", and "one of the first feminist books of this decade to raise nationwide male ire", though like Betty Friedan 's The Feminine Mystique (1963) and Germaine Greer 's The Female Eunuch (1970), its status has declined. Sexual Politics
15609-458: Was married to sculptor Fumio Yoshimura (1965 to 1985) and later, until her death in 2017, she was married to Sophie Keir. Katherine Murray Millett was born on September 14, 1934, to James Albert and Helen ( née Feely ) Millett in Saint Paul, Minnesota . According to Millett, she was afraid of her father, an engineer, who beat her. He was an alcoholic who abandoned the family when she
15738-505: Was no longer able to care for herself in her apartment, she was placed in a nursing home in St. Paul, Minnesota, which was one of Helen Millett's greatest fears. Kate visited her mother and was disturbed by the care she received and her mother's demoralized attitude. Nursing home residents who were labeled as "behavioral problems", as Helen was, were subject to forcible restraint. Helen said to Kate, "Now that you're here, we can leave." Aware of
15867-413: Was not about sex, but about equal opportunity in jobs and all the rest of it. Yes, I suppose you have to say that freedom of sexual choice is part of that, but it shouldn't be the main issue". She ignored lesbians in the National Organization for Women ( NOW ) initially, and objected to what she saw as their demands for equal time. "Homosexuality ... is not, in my opinion, what the women's movement
15996-407: Was one of the first writers to describe the modern concept of patriarchy as the society-wide subjugation of women. Biographer Gayle Graham Yates said that "Millett articulated a theory of patriarchy and conceptualized the gender and sexual oppression of women in terms that demanded a sex role revolution with radical changes of personal and family lifestyles". Betty Friedan 's focus, by comparison,
16125-484: Was published in 1970, the same year that she was awarded her doctorate from Columbia University . The bestselling book , a critique of patriarchy in Western society and literature, addressed the sexism and heterosexism of the modern novelists D. H. Lawrence , Henry Miller , and Norman Mailer and contrasted their perspectives with the dissenting viewpoint of the homosexual author Jean Genet . Millett questioned
16254-510: Was sincere and committed. Judith Hennessee ( Betty Friedan: Her Life ) and Daniel Horowitz, a professor of American Studies at Smith College , have also written about Friedan. Horowitz explored Friedan's engagement with the women's movement before she began to work on The Feminine Mystique and pointed out that Friedan's feminism did not start in the 1950s but even earlier, in the 1940s. Focusing his study on Friedan's ideas in feminism rather than on her personal life Horowitz's book gave Friedan
16383-404: Was that of psychiatric drug withdrawal, including "mile-a-minute" speech, which turned her peaceful art colony to "a quarrelsome dystopia." Mallory Millett, having talked to Keir, tried to get her committed but was unsuccessful due to New York's laws concerning involuntary commitments. Millett visited Ireland in the fall of 1980 as an activist. Upon her intended return to the United States, there
16512-445: Was to improve leadership opportunities socially and politically and economic independence for women. Millett wrote several books on women's lives from a feminist perspective. For instance, in the book The Basement: Meditations on a Human Sacrifice (1979), completed over four years, she chronicled the torture and murder of Indianapolis teenager Sylvia Likens by Gertrude Baniszewski in 1965 that had preoccupied her for 14 years. With
16641-674: Was to report on the House Un-American Activities Committee . By then married, Friedan was dismissed from the union newspaper UE News in 1952 because she was pregnant with her second child. After leaving UE News she became a freelance writer for various magazines, including Cosmopolitan . According to Friedan biographer Daniel Horowitz, Friedan started as a labor journalist when she first became aware of women's oppression and exclusion, although Friedan herself disputed this interpretation of her work. For her 15th college reunion in 1957 Friedan conducted
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