The human qualities are defined as femininity, radiant happiness, radiant health, and childlikeness. She points out that men’s jobs may often be stressful so it is vital to their ability to relax and rejuvenate that they come home to a clean and tidy house, preferably entering the home to smell the aroma of a savory, freshly cooked meal and to find a wife who looks pretty and well-kempt.
She believes that men should put women on a pedestal, seeing the female as morally superior to the male.ĭomestic skills are vital for the husband-breadwinner, wife-homemaker lifestyle Andelin champions. She defines the angelic qualities as understanding men, possessing inner happiness, having a worthy character, and being skilled and conscientious as a “domestic goddess.” She elaborates that these qualities “awaken a feeling near worship” in men toward the women who have them. She writes, “Women are inclined to appreciate poise, talent, intellectual gifts, and cleverness of personality, whereas men admire girlishness, tenderness, sweetness of character, vivacity, and her ability to understand men.”įW teaches that the Ideal Woman from a man’s viewpoint consists of an equal number of “angelic” and “human” qualities. The Ideal Woman from a Man’s Point of ViewĪndelin believes it is important to realize that women often value qualities in other women that are strikingly different from those men value in women. However, it is also possible to see her reliance on Victorian works as indicating the special literary and artistic richness of that era. However, a disproportionate number of her examples came from the Victorian period, usually defined as stretching from 1837 to 1901, the sixty-four years in which Queen Victoria reigned over Great Britain.Īndelin’s critics might use this Victorian emphasis to attack her views as woefully outdated. Her literary examples range from works as ancient as the Bible to those contemporary with her own life in the twentieth century, such as the novels of Taylor Caldwell. Although Andelin was-suitably for her beliefs-a home economics major in college, her books show that she was widely read and particularly well-versed in classic literature. In illustrating what constitutes the ideal woman as men see her, Andelin drew examples from both real life and literature. Additionally, Andelin believed a woman should strive to become an “ideal woman” from a specifically “man’s point of view.” Both books taught the same traditionalist sex role principles, according to which, married women should be homemakers and their husbands breadwinners. While FW was oriented primarily to adult married women, FG targeted single young women. The Fascinating Girl was first published in 1970. Those classes continue to flourish up to the present time in the United States and many other countries. It spawned programs of classes teaching its principles to women. The book Fascinating Womanhood, by the late Helen Andelin, was first published in 1963. One of the most popular of the traditionalist movements was, and remains, that of Fascinating Womanhood. These movements inevitably led to counter-movements calling for the retention and even strengthening of traditional sex roles. Part of it was sometimes called “women’s liberation,” often shortened to “women’s lib.” Today these movements are likely to be referred to as one sort or another of “feminism.” Those movements were extraordinarily diverse. The late 1960s and early 1970s witnessed the emergence of several movements for changes in the treatment of women and an expansion of their opportunities and roles. First published in Winter, 2013, Volume 8, Issue 1, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies.