09.02.06 - 11:27 a.m.

she admitted she'd "been very square" when she quit NOW. that she was uncomfortable with lesbianism, but i never heard her say that her decision was really justified. i never heard her say later that NOW had in fact been catering to one group, already aware of its struggle, and ignoring another that was at least largely unaware of its own. my friends and classmates have laughed her off as archaic even in her own context. i have agreed with them. i bought my mother the fountain of age because i felt it appropriate for a woman of her age and generation. nothing too revolutionary. it wasn't until relatively recently, when i re-read the feminine mystique that i realized how relevant betty friedan's work is, still today. not just to older women, or less educated women, but to me. i really wish i'd written her a letter of thanks for NOW and NARAL, for being jewish and smart and accessable in a time when none of those things were cool.