During the month of December, I have come across many great books and shows. I want to share some of my favorites.
The Feminine Mystique
By Betty Friedan
After learning about how this powerful book spurred the feminist movement in the ’60s, I vowed to myself that I would read it. A year later, I finally took the time to finish it.
The feminine mystique has succeeded in burying millions of American women alive.
Betty Friedan explores the phenomenon of women moving back into the domestic sphere after gaining suffrage. Instead taking a step further and utilizing their new-found freedom, millions of educated women chose to dedicate their lives to motherhood, willingly confining themselves to the home. She explores the psychology, the many causes, and the multitude of implications of the feminine mystique. From reading, I clearly understood the attitude and desperation for women of the time. I recommend this book to all feminists and those who want to understand the sentimentality behind the powerful movement of the ’60s.
The Beauty Myth
by Naomi Wolf
Coming across this book on Our Shared Shelf, I found that The Beauty Myth is a modern version of The Feminine Mystique. In her book, Wolf focuses on how standards of beauty are holding women back in terms of careers, politics, education, etc. Dubbing the issue as “the iron maiden”, she illustrates how society molds a solid standard of beauty to bend and twist women away from their freedoms. She urges women, young and old, to push past those beauty standards and live to their full potential.
What girls learn is not the desire for the other but the desire to be desired.
I highly recommend this book! Although the books was published in the ’90s, many of the issues are still relevant today. The Beauty Myth is a huge eye-opener for me, and I’m sure it will be for you, too.
The Crown
I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adore this show. Whether this show is accurate to the true events, I do not know, but the drama, the tension, the glamour glued my eyes to the television. There is a reason that The Crown has almost five stars on Netflix. Let me tell you why: the actors/actresses look almost like the people they depict, the film shots are stunning, the costumes are gorgeous, the accents are great. And, this is just my opinion but I think everyone should watch this show. If you don’t have Netflix, GET NETFLIX, so you can watch it.
If you are stuck at home with nothing to do during your winter vacation, these are just a few suggestions I wanted to make. I really enjoyed these books/film and I hope you do, too. If you have any book or movie recommendations, please comment in the section below. I am always looking for another book to read!
Thanks for reading!~