Second-Wave Feminism

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Marlo Thomas's children's book, "Free To Be You and Me", published in 1974, is a prime example of second-wave feminist activism. It looks at how, unlike first-wave feminism, typified by the suffrage movement and personified by women like Susan B. Anthony, second-wave feminism had two primary agendas, which can be seen in Thomas's novel. It attempts to show how second-wave feminism, with such slogans as "the personal is the political," and the ideology of consciousness raising, are implicitly, as well as explicitly, exemplified in "Free to Be You and Me".

From the Paper:

"Millett's highly influential text led women to see patriarchy as ever-present and ever-expansive. Women's oppression was not only played out in the traditional political structures that first wave feminists had identified (legal, economic, educational), but it was also played out in women's minds and bodies. Hence, rejecting gender conditioning and fighting for reproductive choice became key second wave issues. The short skits and catchy songs of Thomas's storybook were meant to stop gender conditioning at the core; the most influential period, childhood. Titles like "Housework," "Ladies First," and "Grandma," identify and attempt to dismantle many commonly held gender stereotypes of the 1970s, and contradict most other books and programming available for children at that time."

More papers on Second-Wave Feminism:

• Analytical Essay # 142182 : "Plath's "The Bell Jar" and Second-Wave Feminism"
• Comparison Essay # 32740 : "Feminism In 19th Century Britain And America"
• Essay # 90072 : "Suffragists and Second Wave Feminists"

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