Comparative Review of Race in Feminist Literature Anonymous College

With each generation comes a piece of literature that sparks a wildfire within its society. In the early 1960s, Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique fulfilled this role. Friedan challenged the era’s gender roles for American women. This piece resonated deeply with unsatisfied housewives that craved a more fulfilled life. Twenty years later, a collection of women desired to improve Friedan’s narrow-scoped work by creating a piece that included the hardships of women of color. Out of this desire was birthed All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us are Brave. By comparing these two ground-breaking literary works, one can observe the need for intersectionality within feminist spheres and acknowledge the deficiencies within White Feminism.

Betty Friedan was a journalist and political activist in the mid-1900s whose work is often labeled as the catalyst that ignited the second wave of feminism. Friedan’s Feminine Mystique began as a humbler collection of articles that primarily focused on the issues of middle class, suburban, white women. However, upon witnessing the interest women had in her writing, Friedan expanded this smaller collection into a full-size novel. The Feminine Mystique aims to create solidarity...