The problem that has no name
When Betty Friedman wrote her important book, The Feminine Mystique (1963), she insightfully verbalized the problems afflicting thousands of North American suburbian women--issues which, despite the years, still exist and will continue to do so into the future. The noble sacrifice a mother made had a detrimental side at the personal level; by dedicating herself to her family, the mother 'spent' herself personally--as a wick of candle that slowly consumes itself. Unfortunately, the problem with the contemporary feminist movement is that it has not done justice to the tone and nuanced dialogue begun by Friendman forty years ago, who sadly passed away recently. All too many feminists use the dialogue as a hammer for male bashing, in the process gravely distorting the subtle tone and character in which Friedman had written her work. Now and then one reads or hears the claim that "all men throughout all of history have repressed all women"--as if women for the last 400,000 years had been living in a torture chamber being whipped by their masculine counterparts. These type of absurd claims that recognize the female cost of reproduction while ignoring male contributions and/or difficulties do a great disservice to both sexes. Has love no virtue?