Feminism in Literature: Kesey's Critique Anonymous 12th Grade

The 1960s were greatly characterized by the second-wave feminist movement, inspired by the Civil Rights movement and led by women who were once submissive to men but turned into empowered figures who attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities by unorthodox means -like bra burning- if necessary. The highly controversial second-wave feminism began when women were forced out of the workforce after the end of World War II, which had given them the opportunities to work and demonstrate their ability to perform outside a strict gender role. The movement arose a power struggle between men and women that sought and demanded to no longer be the submissive ones in relationships to a shift into equality relationships between men and women. Writers such as Simone de Beauvoir who wrote, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman,” (“What Was the Second Wave Feminist Movement?”) began to question the role women played in society and how they were perceived and treated, and criticized how gender roles are imposed on humans throughout their development, and in doing so fueled feminism in the 60s and 70s. Betty Friedan, one of the most influential authors at the time wrote in The Feminine Mystique about the problems of the...