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2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

4. Betty Friedan: The ‘Mother’ of Feminism, Self-fashioning, and the Celebrity Mystique

Author : Anthea Taylor

Published in: Celebrity and the Feminist Blockbuster

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK

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Abstract

Betty Friedan’s 1963 blockbuster, The Feminine Mystique, looms large to this day in media engagement with American feminism and its modern history. In this chapter, focusing on Friedan’s sustained attempts to position herself and her blockbuster as the catalysts for second wave feminism, Taylor shines a light on the key narratives and tropes through which her fame was established and maintained. In addition to authorial profiles and interviews, this chapter explores literary attempts by this blockbuster author to intervene in the construction of her own celebrity sign, including through her memoir, Life So Far. Focusing on Friedan’s self-fashioning, Taylor persuasively argues that over many decades she actively attempted to shape a number of key myths about herself, her blockbuster, and the origins of modern feminism—largely with success.

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previous chapter Helen Gurley Brown: Prototypical Celebrity Feminism, Cultural Intermediaries, and Agency
next chapter Germaine Greer: ‘The Star Feminism Had to Have’, Unruliness, and Adaptable Celebrity
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Metadata
Title
Betty Friedan: The ‘Mother’ of Feminism, Self-fashioning, and the Celebrity Mystique
Author
Anthea Taylor
Copyright Year
2016
Book
Celebrity and the Feminist Blockbuster

Print ISBN: 978-1-137-37333-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-137-37334-2

Copyright Year: 2016

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37334-2_4