The Beauty Myth

Second-wave feminism in the US emerged in the 1960s in response to post-World War II cultural expectations for women. Mainstream narratives perpetuated by TV, film, and advertising idealized female domesticity, and many middle-class women who worked during the war were fired as men returned from the war front. Betty Friedan’s 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is generally considered the beginning of second-wave feminism. Friedan argued against this push for domesticity, and feminists advocated for women’s inclusion in the public sphere and organized for legal reforms that promoted gender equality. Many feminist gains were made during the 1960s and 70s, including but not limited to: the FDA approving oral contraceptives (1960); the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (1974) which allowed women to have their own lines of credit; and Roe v. Wade (1973), which legalized abortion nationwide.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s the movement’s focus shifted to social issues. Activists split into two camps during the feminist sex wars. Anti-pornography feminists such as Andrea Dworkin, Catherine MacKinnon, Robin Morgan, and Gail Dines believed that pornography and sex work are inherently misogynistic. They advocated for outlawing pornography and sex work, claiming that these systems are part of a cultural cycle of violence against women.