"It took, and still takes, extraordinary strength of purpose for women to pursue their own life plans when society does not expect it of them" (pg. 454).

I'm shocked how much a Second Wave Feminist book from 1963 is still relevant today. I thought this book would feel more dated -- and trust me, her ignorant speculations about Autistic and LGBT individuals definitely feel abrasive -- but as far as Feminism goes, change is still slow and uneven.

Friedan can, at times, be a bit repetitive, especially near the end. But her prose is sharp and translucent. You can still feel the truth bombs detonating on the fortress of the American Feminine Mystique -- the fact that a woman is actually an autonomous person who can determine her life's purpose, that pursuing a passion / profession won't lead her children into psychoses, that having a world outside the home will actually help her be healthy and happy. It's still such an important and foundational idea that this book retains its value just on that argument alone.

I wish Friedan had used more on the empirical studies for making her conclusions, as she sometimes instead relies on anecdotal evidence, but it's possible that the studies simply didn't exist at the time. The stories certainly become strong examples, but studies would have helped make a stronger case for hard-nose doubters. Thankfully we now live in a world that has more evidence to help back her up.