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女性主義者對母親角色的批判：波娃和傅瑞丹
The Problem of Motherhood in Friedan's and De Beauvoir's Feminisms
摘要
二十世紀的美國女性主義者，因爲批判傳統的兩性角色，常被譴責鼓勵女性拋家棄子。事實上，女性主義者並非鼓吹女性離開家庭，而是挑戰傳統母親角色的荒謬和缺點，並提供女性主義的母親角色觀點。但這些觀點未被正確瞭解，還被房間地扭曲和誇大。再者，雖然經歷婦女運動的努力，美國母親仍面對家庭和工作的兩難，因此美國婦女運動常被批評沒有處理好「家庭」這個議題。 第二波的美國婦女運動早期（約從一九六三年到一九七○以前），女性主義者幾乎一而倒批判傳統母親角色，認爲「母親角色」是女性受壓迫的源頭。但是七○代後期，女性主義者改變早期的負面批判而採取正面態度，把母親角色納入女性主義理論，並認爲母性物質是女性權力的來源。整體而言，女性主義者的母親角色理論，影響女性主義者的相關議題論述和社會改革策略，也影響到婦女運動的成敗，尤其是與母親福利相關的議題。本文將針對啓動二十世紀美國婦女運動最重要的兩位女性－波娃和傅瑞丹－的母親角色思想做一初步分析探索。 本文將討論與比較波娃和傅瑞丹兩人傳統母親角色的批判和她們的理想母親角色，並評估她們的思想對後來女性主義者討論母親角色的影響。本文認爲傅瑞丹和波娃對母親角色的批判，留給美國婦女運動矛盾的影響。固然她們引起共鳴，激發、女性主義意識，但是卻也留下了無法解決的爭議。這些爭議不但成爲女性主義者的敵人攻擊他們的最佳武器，也延續女性主義者間有關「平等」和「差異」的討論。這些母親角色定義不夠周全處，有待日後女性主義者繼續探討與發展。
並列摘要
Due to their challenge to traditional sex roles, feminists of the second women's movement in the United States were often criticized for causing the increasing numbers of breakdown of families and women's escape from their mother responsibility. In fact, American feminists not only made effort to expose the problem of traditional motherhood, but also tried to create a feminist version of motherhood. Under feminist ideal of motherhood, a woman could enjoy both being a mother and a real human being. However, the real story of feminists' engagement on motherhood debates and social changes was often clouded by misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Moreover, while American mothers of the 1980s and 1990s turned out to be worse off than mothers in other developed countries, particularly in day cares and maternity leaves, even after a ”successful” women's movement, many people questioned if feminists had paid enough attention to mothers, motherhood, and family. During the second women's movement (from the late 1960s to 1980), feminists' view on motherhood had undergone a big transformation. The early feminists held a rather negative view on motherhood. They identified motherhood as the root of women's oppression and denounced the gender difference and sex discrimination developed from base of women's reproductive capacity. By contrast, American feminists of the late 1970s increasingly took a more positive view on motherhood. They not only included motherhood into feminism but also celebrated motherhood as a source of power. As a whole, feminist views on motherhood guided the agendas and strategies of the women's movement and sometimes affected the fate of the movement. Thus, in order to understand the relationship between feminist ideas on motherhood and the development of women's movement, it is important first to explore the ideas of motherhood of those great feminist thinkers. This article aims to analyze the thoughts of two most influential feminists in the dawn of the second women's movement-Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan. I will discuss and compare both their challenges to traditional motherhood and their feminist ideals of motherhood. This article is divided into five sections. Firstly, I briefly state my research motivation and methodology. Secondly, I analyze de Beauvoir's view on motherhood presented in The Second Sex. In the third section, I assess Betty Friedan's view on motherhood appeared in The Feminine Mystique and some of her writings for the National Organization for Women. I compare de Beauvoir's and Friedan's views on motherhood in terms of their adoption of male standard of equality and class and race concerns in the fourth section. I conclude that both de Beauvoir's and Friedan's criticism on the traditional motherhood left a paradoxical legacy to the women's movement. On the one hand, their viewed touched many women's hearts and inspired their feminist consciousness. On the other hand, however, their inadequacy in comprehending motherhood provided easy targets for opponents' attack and sustained the year-long feminists' debates on equality and difference.