Fascinating Womanhood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fascinating Womanhood is the title of a book written by Helen Andelin in 1963. The book recently went into its sixth edition, published by Random House[3]. The book has sold over 2,000,000 copies and is credited with starting a grassroots movement among women.
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[edit] History
Derived from a set of booklets published in the 1920s and 1930s by the Psychological Press, the book seeks to help traditionally-minded women to make their marriages "a lifelong love affair"[4]. According to Time Magazine, Mrs. Andelin wrote Fascinating Womanhood when "she felt her own marriage going sour"[5]. The book's self-published edition sold over 400,000 copies [6], and since being published by Random House, the book has sold an additional 1.6 million-plus copies [7]. The book serves as a touchstone for those of the anti-feminist persuasion as well as those seeking to live in a system based on patriarchy.
[edit] Sources
The book takes many of its sources from historical women and from examples provided in classic literature. As one of the "real life" women, Mumtaz Mahal of Taj Mahal fame is cited as one of the ideal women who possessed both an Angelic and a Human side. More sources come from classic literature: Amelia (the original Domestic Goddess) of William Makepeace Thackeray's classic Vanity Fair; Agnes and Dora from David Copperfield (novel) by Charles Dickens; and Deruchette from Victor Hugo's Toilers of the Sea.
[edit] The Fascinating Womanhood Movement
Although the book was published in the mid-1960s when second wave feminism became part of the American mainstream, Fascinating Womanhood's traditional explication of happy marriage resonated in the minds and hearts of millions of women. By 1975, according to Time Magazine, the movement included 11,000 teachers and over 300,000 women had taken the series of Fascinating Womanhood classes.[8]
Unlike other antifeminism movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the Fascinating Womanhood Movement continues today. Octogenarian Helen Andelin maintains a website that has received over a quarter of a million visits.[9] The classes continue in Namibia, The Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, and in the United States in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Utah, and Virginia.[10]
[edit] Academic Attention
Fascinating Womanhood has gained the attention of academic writers who, in the main, regard the book as detrimental to women in various ways. In 1978, psychologist Martha L. Rogers wrote an article ("Fascinating Womanhood as a Regression in the Emotional Maturation of Women") positing the argument that women who follow the teachings of Fascinating Womanhood were doing so out of a fear of being self-actualized individuals.[1]. Juanne N. Clarke of Wilfrid Laurier University wrote that the Fascinating Womanhood movement used Kanter's Model of Commitment Mechanisms to analyze the techniques used to gain women's allegiance to the movement.[2] More recently, Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons, authored by Lynn Peril, cited Fascinating Womanhood as part of a body of literature that seeks to promote "an idealized version of womanhood"(Peril, page 215)[3]. Finally, communications writer Julia Woods discusses the Fascinating Womanhood movement in Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture.[4]
