Feminine Mystique Symposium: Feminism and Families Today

On the 50th Anniversary of The Feminine Mystique, Council on Contemporary Families Scholars identify what’s changed—and what hasn’t.

Table of Contents

Keynote: Four myths about Betty Friedan and feminism
By Stephanie Coontz

The Youth and Beauty Mystique: Its Costs for Women and Men
By Paula England

Sexual Mystiques: Do we still like it old school?
By Virginia Rutter

The Unfeminine Mystique: Stereotypes about African-American Women
By Shirley Hill

Lesbian Mystiques
By Judith A. Howard

Latinas’ Mystique
By Lorena Garcia

The Rise of the Motherhood Mystique
By Cameron Macdonald

About CCF

The Council on Contemporary Families is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best-practice findings about American families. Our members include demographers, economists, family therapists, historians, political scientists, psychologists, social workers, sociologists, as well as other family social scientists and practitioners.

Founded in 1996 and now based in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami, the Council’s mission is to enhance the national understanding of how and why contemporary families are changing, what needs and challenges they face, and how these needs can best be met. To fulfill that mission, the Council holds annual conferences, open to the public, and issues periodic briefing papers and fact sheets.