Friedan wanted to know why women had returned to being housewives after making gains in independence earlier in the century. She concluded that "the perpetuation of housewifery, the growth of the feminine mystique, makes sense (and dollars) when one realizes that women are the chief customers of American business. Somehow, somewhere, someone must have figured out that women will buy more things if they are kept in the underused, nameless-yearning, energy-to-get-rid-of state of being housewives."

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 530