Author Betty Friedan Is Dead at 85

Writer of the bestseller The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan died today, on her birthday. She was denounced as a radical on the right for suggesting women might have a brain and want to use it and as a conformist on the left for saying bra-burning was silly and being a mother and housewife was a noble task if a woman chose it. Now her crazy, far-out ideas like maternity leave, equal pay, help-wanted ads that didn't demand someone be male, reproductive rights and so on are so commonplace and mainstream it's hard to imagine that 40 years ago they were considered on the fringe.