Betty Friedan 2/4/1921 – 2/4/2006

Betty Friedan, author of “The Feminine Mystique”, co-founder of N.O.W. and one of the creators of NARAL, passed away yesterday on her 85th birthday. One of the most influential feminists in our modern history, Friedan helped create the modern conceptions of feminism and equal rights for women.

“No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor.”
- Betty Friedan

Why write about a Jewish humanist with no connection to modern Paganism? Because the modern feminist movement is one of the important catalysts in the growth of modern Paganism in American. Once the radical idea that women were entitled to equal footing with men started to spread, it was only a matter of time before women (and men) started looking for that “equal partner” to the masculinized God of the Judeo-Christian worldview.

So when feminist groups like W.I.T.C.H. (The Women’s International Conspiracy from Hell) hexed Wall Street, when Z. Budapest formed the Susan B. Anthony Coven No. 1 (one of the first explicitly feminist covens), or when women sought out the recently arrived Wiccan covens from England (and their American off-shoots) looking for a conception of the divine that embodied their experiences as women, a small debt should be paid to the woman who helped spark a new way for women to conceive themselves.

“Maybe my power and glory was that I could speak my truth as a woman and it was the truth of every woman.” – Betty Friedan

“Betty always felt that religion has to be part of social reform, that the story of religion keeps women subservient, so you have to open up the religious piece and talk about how religion can fuel the vision.” – Helen LaKelly Hunt

Tributes: N.O.W., San Francisco Chronicle, Slate, Kathleen Reardon, Truthout, Ms. Magazine.

Tags: Neopaganism