Chapter 11, The Sex Seekers Summary

Throughout her time interviewing suburban housewives, Friedan noticed many would give sexual answers to questions that were not sexual in nature. Often women seemed eager to speak about their sex lives. Many would say they only felt alive during sex, but many reported no longer being fulfilled sexually by their husbands. They had affairs, but remained unsatisfied. One woman left her husband and took all five children to Mexico to live with a man with whom she was having an affair. She was back in six months and resumed her marriage as before.

Friedan wondered why sex was so unfulfilling to these women, despite their sexual escapades. She began to wonder if they were seeking fulfillment in sex that the act could not provide. Sex had become boring in America. The boredom could be seen in the...