Feminism

Some book research yesterday surprised me. It was fun re-reading The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan's 1963 book. I particularly enjoyed noticing the passages I had underlined. according to my Google sources, "The first wave of feminism ran from the 1860's to the 1920's. The Second Wave of Feminism began in 1960's and continues into the present. Perhaps the first highly publicized event was the 'bra-burning' that took place when 400 women demonstrated at the 1968 Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City by placing bras and other feminine paraphanalia (sp?) in a large trash container and came up with the idea of burning it. Turned out they couldn't get a permit so bra-burning didn't get publicized (as near as I could find) until 1970 at Berkeley - in a wastebasket. " Somehow all of that mostly passed me by - I was busy taking care of two small boys born in 1964 and 1966. I admit, I did subscribe to Ms., the Gloria Steinem magazine, and read it from cover to cover. But, I somehow convinced myself that I was at least as good as and perhaps better than most men. Whatever good as and better than mean. Equality, somehow, didn't appeal to me. Femininists somehow seemed weak. I need to think about this more. I'm not sure I remember correctly how I really felt fifty years ago! I do know that I am very happy with the more equal opportunities for women now and I'm grateful to those who made it happen - along with me! Did I mention I burned my bra (literally) in 2005?