Word: mcginleys
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...Sickness? It was scarcely surprising that The Feminine Mystique, which attacked the whole structure of Phyllis McGinley's convictions, provoked the contented housewife of Grindstone Hill into a spirited response. Betty Friedan's book classified the housewife state as nothing short of "dangerous." "It is not an exaggeration to call the stagnating state of millions of American housewives a sickness," she wrote. "The problem-which is simply the fact that American women are kept from growing to their full human capacities-is taking a far greater toll on the physical and mental health of our country than...
...Friedan challenge was irresistible to Phyllis McGinley. "I rise to defend the quite possible She," she had written many years ago-meaning by that the woman with absolute freedom of choice to find her destiny, not just by the rigid and somewhat outmoded rules of the feminists but in the world of today...
That world, to her, has always included the home. Phyllis McGinley sings its praises as the best and possibly the richest part of the feminine equation, but by no means all of it. Her arguments, unlike those of the opposition, are undeniably modern. She is no disciple of the Teutonic school of Kinder, Küche, Kirche. And although she believes strongly in her religion, she does not place the domestic role on the pedestal of religious duty...
...Phyllis McGinley's message to the housewife is that despite emancipation, despite the vote, despite jet travel and contraceptives and sleeping pills and a steadily rising census of college-educated women, there are still ample rewards and nourishment to be found in woman's noblest and most venerable role as keeper of the home...
Betty Friedan & Co. discount such talk because, they say, it comes from a woman who is not just a housewife but a poet, and who herself discounts housewifery by employing fulltime help. This attitude is slightly tinged with envy. Phyllis McGinley has managed, with stunning success, the very sort of life they advocate-and, what's more, like the Phi Beta Kappa effortlessly producing scholarship, she has made it look easy. From this housewife's mind, in between unstinted domestic chores, have come nine volumes of excellent verse, two books of essays and 15 children's books...