Chapter 5, The Sexual Solipsism of Sigmund Freud Summary

The old prejudice against women was not easy for the feminists to dismiss. They resurfaced in the Freudian thought that gained popularity in 1940s America. The Freudian idea that it is women's nature to be controlled by men and her nature to resent him caused women of this generation to misinterpret the frustration they saw in their own mothers. They thought mom's frustration stemmed from her inability to appreciate the love of her family.

All this made the new mystique much more difficult for most women to question. The nature of Freudian thought was that only the most highly trained doctors could understand the theory. Women thought they were not knowledgeable enough to argue against these concepts, which were well established in social science and academic circles. While Friedan acknowledges the...