Betty Friedan’s “Monsters in the Kitchen”: Women Watching Television in the 1960s

Abstract: In “Television and the Feminine Mystique” ( TV Guide , 1964), Betty Friedan trained the spotlight on television programming as a socializing force that sustained the feminine mystique but, with change, might also help women transcend it. More than 250 readers wrote in response to her critique of gendered media representations, which hailed women as housewives and viewers. Positioning “Television and the Feminine Mystique” alongside the readers’ letters foregrounds a dialogue about gender and feminism mediated by debate over the uses and abuses of television. This article contextualizes and analyzes “Television and the Feminine Mystique” before evaluating the readers’ letters for insight into the historical reception of television by women in the early network era. Readers emphasized their agency as viewers, challenging Friedan’s interpretation of content and conclusions about television’s effects. Finally, assessing the foreshadowing in “Television and the Feminine Mystique” of 1970s’ feminist media activism, I argue that readers’ letters demonstrate the need for historians to scrutinize audiences in order to understand feminism’s complex interplay with media.