When one begins to think about it, America depends rather heavily on women's passive dependence, their femininity. Femininity, if one still wants to call it that, makes American women a target and a victim of the sexual sell.
Betty FriedanRead
We need to see men and women as equal partners, but it's hard to think of movies that do that. When I talk to people, they think of movies of forty-five years ago! Hepburn and Tracy!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the need for recognizing equality between men and women in society, particularly in film representation.
Betty Friedan highlights the historical challenge of depicting men and women as equal partners in movies. She points out that many people still refer to outdated films, suggesting a stagnation in how gender roles are portrayed over the decades, calling for a renewed perspective on equality in modern cinema.
Themes
EqualityGenderRepresentationCinemaPartnership
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on gender roles in Hollywood during a film studies class.
More from Betty Friedan
All quotes →Over and over again, stories in women's magazines insist that women can know fulfillment only at the moment of giving birth to a child. They deny the years when she can no longer look forward to giving birth, even if she repeats the act over and over again. In the feminine mystique, there is no other way for a woman to dream of creation or of the future. There is no other way she can even dream about herself, except as her children's mother, her husband's wife.
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Advice? I don't offer advice. Not my business. Your life is what you make it.
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No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor.
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It is easier to live through someone else than to complete yourself. The freedom to lead and plan your own life is frightening if you have never faced it before. It is frightening when a woman finally realizes that there is no answer to the question 'who am I' except the voice inside herself.
Betty FriedanRead
Who knows what women can be when they are finally free to become themselves?
Betty FriedanRead
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