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| Friedan and feminism's long links with the fight for wider equality | Friedan and feminism's long links with the fight for wider equality |
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| Hadley Freeman (Sorry Beyoncé, G2, 16 January) uses the approaching 50th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique to lament the sorry state of contemporary feminist discourse, as represented by Beyoncé Knowles's willingness to compromise her observations on sexual equality by appearing "nearly naked" in photos. Betty Friedan may have been a "flawed advocate of women's rights", but Ms Freeman should have explained what she meant by saying that Friedan had "little apparent interest in women who were anything other than white and upper middle class". | Hadley Freeman (Sorry Beyoncé, G2, 16 January) uses the approaching 50th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique to lament the sorry state of contemporary feminist discourse, as represented by Beyoncé Knowles's willingness to compromise her observations on sexual equality by appearing "nearly naked" in photos. Betty Friedan may have been a "flawed advocate of women's rights", but Ms Freeman should have explained what she meant by saying that Friedan had "little apparent interest in women who were anything other than white and upper middle class". |
| In fact, Friedan had a long leftist history, beginning at Smith College in the 1930s, during which she was fairly consistently aligned with the Communist party. In 1952, when she submerged herself in the bourgeois culture that would fuel her book, she had just spent six years working for the United Electrical Workers, not only one of the most staunchly party-line, but also one of the most rank and file – and feminist – of the left-led unions purged from the CIO in 1949-50. With the cold war and McCarthyism at its height (the Rosenbergs had just been executed and southern racists were just about to proclaim the first stirrings of rock and roll part of the international communist conspiracy), anyone with her history (discussed in detail by Daniel Horowitz, Betty Friedan and the Making of The Feminine Mystique, 1998) would have had every reason to cover her tracks and keep her head down. That history possibly explains some of the silences in her "flawed" book, which, as Ms Freeman concedes, was a "landmark in the history of feminism". John Manley University of Central Lancashire | In fact, Friedan had a long leftist history, beginning at Smith College in the 1930s, during which she was fairly consistently aligned with the Communist party. In 1952, when she submerged herself in the bourgeois culture that would fuel her book, she had just spent six years working for the United Electrical Workers, not only one of the most staunchly party-line, but also one of the most rank and file – and feminist – of the left-led unions purged from the CIO in 1949-50. With the cold war and McCarthyism at its height (the Rosenbergs had just been executed and southern racists were just about to proclaim the first stirrings of rock and roll part of the international communist conspiracy), anyone with her history (discussed in detail by Daniel Horowitz, Betty Friedan and the Making of The Feminine Mystique, 1998) would have had every reason to cover her tracks and keep her head down. That history possibly explains some of the silences in her "flawed" book, which, as Ms Freeman concedes, was a "landmark in the history of feminism". John Manley University of Central Lancashire |
| • Suzanne Moore (It saddens me that supporting freedom makes me an opponent of equality, G2, 17 January) might find it easier if she did not conflate liberty and freedom, which are opposites in relation to equality. Liberty, as used by the American right, means that you can do anything that is not illegal, even if it harms someone else, which is why the wealthy and powerful try to push back state involvement. Freedom is used in the language of human rights and is much more nuanced. It supports equality by limiting the right to act in ways that harm others. Franklin D Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech sums it up well. Michael Peel London | • Suzanne Moore (It saddens me that supporting freedom makes me an opponent of equality, G2, 17 January) might find it easier if she did not conflate liberty and freedom, which are opposites in relation to equality. Liberty, as used by the American right, means that you can do anything that is not illegal, even if it harms someone else, which is why the wealthy and powerful try to push back state involvement. Freedom is used in the language of human rights and is much more nuanced. It supports equality by limiting the right to act in ways that harm others. Franklin D Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech sums it up well. Michael Peel London |
| • I note the continuing swirl of outrage over the Moore and Birchill articles and hope the Guardian will continue to support Suzanne Moore. Suzanne's sensitive piece was far from the hatred and intolerance she's been accused of and so generous in the face of the hatred and intolerance which has been directed at her. Margot Williams Sutton Coldfield | • I note the continuing swirl of outrage over the Moore and Birchill articles and hope the Guardian will continue to support Suzanne Moore. Suzanne's sensitive piece was far from the hatred and intolerance she's been accused of and so generous in the face of the hatred and intolerance which has been directed at her. Margot Williams Sutton Coldfield |
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