ABSTRACT
Feminism in the United States has never emerged from the women who are most victimized by sexist oppression; women who are daily beaten down, mentally, physically, and spiritually, women who are powerless to change their condition in life. Today's feminists either do not discuss a theory of individuality or they unself-consciously adopt the competitive, atomistic ideology of liberal individualism. Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique'll still heralded as having paved the way for contemporary feminist movement, it was written as if these women did not exist. In the context of her book, Friedan makes clear that the women she saw as victimized by sexism were college-educated white women who were compelled by sexist conditioning to remain in the home. Recent focus on the issue of racism has generated discourse but has had little impact on the behavior of white feminists towards black women.
