
Not long ago I read Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" which was written in the mid to late twentieth century and the complaints and grievances were no different from those written 100 years before. Alot of the writing focused on one thing: that women oppressed and forced to stay in the domestic sphere were driven to some sort of mental illness because of their unhappiness and frustration. Still this is seen in many women writers nevermind housewives and this problem has been dubbed "The Sylvia Plath Effect." Because women, still today, display some sort of creativity in the arts are said to suffer from illnesses like Bipolar Disorder and commit suicide.
I found myself wondering, are we women mad or are we just victims of the patriarchy or maybe we are even a mix of the two? Of course, women who so easily conform or are comfortable with their feminine social expectations are neither concerned or involved with these issues, although they don't realize that they would benefit from absolute equality. Unfortunately, it is those of use who do not want to be expected to live and act a certain way, who want to make decisions that govern our own lives, who do not always act and dress appropriate to our sex that need to keep fighting for social equality, empower the matriarchy for a change.
Although, it seems difficult to achieve such goals when all of us who cannot conform are either mad or have the potential to be mad. Perhaps it is just the madness of oppression and its constraints that make us seem crazy or lead us to such severe depression that there is no way out but insanity and death. Just maybe something to think about before we go nuts...
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