page_title: The Stepford Wives (1975 film)
section_title: Reaction from feminists
hierarchical_section_title: The Stepford Wives (1975 film) / Release / Critical response / Reaction from feminists
caption_attribution_description: Betty Friedan, American feminist and writer.
context_page_description: The Stepford Wives is a 1975 American satirical horror film directed by Bryan Forbes, written by William Goldman, and starring Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, and Peter Masterson. Its plot follows a woman who relocates with her husband and children from New York City to the Connecticut community of Stepford, where she comes to find the women live unwaveringly subservient lives to their husbands. The film is based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Ira Levin.
  Filmed in Connecticut in 1974, The Stepford Wives premiered theatrically in February 1975. It grossed $4 million at the United States box office, though it received mixed reviews from critics. Reaction from feminist activists and writers was extremely divided at the time of its release, with Betty Friedan deeming it a "rip-off of the women's movement" and discouraging women from seeing it, though others such as Gael Greene and Eleanor Perry defended the film.
  While the film was a moderate success at the time of release, it has grown in stature as a cult film over the years.
context_section_description: Initial reaction to the film by feminist groups was not favorable, with one studio screening for feminist activists being met with "hisses, groans, and guffaws." Cast and crew disagreed with the perceived anti-woman interpretations with Newman, recalling "Bryan [Forbes] always used to say, ‘If anything, it’s anti-men!'" Despite Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique being a major influence on the original novel upon which the film was based, Friedan's response to the film was highly critical, calling it "a rip-off of the women's movement." Friedan commented that women should boycott the film and attempt to diminish any publicity for it.
  Writer Gael Greene, however, lauded the film, commenting: "I loved it—those men were like a lot of men I've known in my life." Feminist screenwriter Eleanor Perry came to the film's defense, stating that it "presses buttons that make you furious—the fact that all the Stepford men wanted were big breasts, big bottoms, a clean house, fresh-perked coffee and sex."
caption: Feminist Betty Friedan deemed the film a "rip-off" of the women's movement
exif: {}