

A formidable character, even as a child, Friedan was earthy, strongly opinionated, easily frustrated, and had a notoriously bad temper.Ī lover of debate, Friedan wrote for the school newspaper while attending Peoria's Central High School from 1934 to 1938. Short, with a chunky body, full face, and long nose, she received admiration for her high intelligence but not for her looks in an era when beauty mattered most in girls. Another daughter and a son followed Bettye (who dropped the "e" from her name in 1942).

Friedan and his American-born second wife, Miriam Horowitz. 4 February 1921 in Peoria, Illinois), prominent writer and political activist who helped start the feminist movement that began in the 1960s and flowered in the 1970s by publishing The Feminine Mystique (1963) and founding the National Organization for Women (NOW).įriedan was born Bettye Goldstein, the first child of prosperous Russian-born Jewish jeweler Harry M.
