While studying a set of women's advice booklets from the 1920s, Andelin had an epiphany that not only changed her life but also affected the lives of millions of American women. A religious woman, she spent long periods in fasting and prayer asking for help to improve her marriage.

'In 1961, Helen Andelin, a disillusioned housewife and mother of eight, languished in a lackluster, twenty-year old marriage.

Anti-feminism - United States - History - 20th century.

This study provides an evenhanded and important look at a crucial, but often overlooked cross-section of American women as they navigated their way through the turbulent decades following the post-war calm of the 1950s.'- Read more. Her message calling for the return to traditional roles appealed to them during a time of uncertainty and radical social change. Andelin spoke to millions of women during a time of social unrest. Undeterred, she founded an organization, started a newsletter with a nationwide subscription, and became involved in politics. As her notoriety grew, so did the backlash from her critics. A woman's true happiness, taught Andelin, could only be realized if she admired, cared for, and obeyed her husband. She urged women not to have careers, but to become good wives, mothers, and homemakers instead.

Countering second-wave feminists in the 1960s, Andelin preached family values and traditional gender roles for women. The book, taken almost word for word from those 1920s advice booklets, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and launched a nationwide organization of classes and seminars led by thousands of volunteer teachers.

In 1963, at the urging of her followers, Andelin wrote and self-published Fascinating Womanhood. Andelin took her new-found happiness as a sign that God wanted her to share these principles with other women and began teaching classes at her church. He bought her gifts and hurried home from the office to be with her. She applied the principles from the booklets to her unhappy marriage and found that her difficult and disinterested husband became loving and attentive. Countering second-wave feminists in the 1960s, Andelin preached family values and traditional gender roles for women'.

Helen andelin fascinating womanhood