Woman's Inhumanity to Woman

Phyllis Chesler
January 2002     ISBN: 1560253517

Until now, a profound silence has prevailed about woman's inhumanity to woman. This groundbreaking book breaks that silence. While women may not act aggressively in the same way that men do, studies confirm that girls and women are aggressive, often in "indirect" ways, and mainly toward each other. They judge each other harshly, in life and on juries, hold grudges, gossip about, exclude and disconnect from other women.

Chesler draws on the most important studies in psychology, human aggression, anthropology, childhood developmental theory, primatology, evolutionary theory, psychoanalytic theory, myths and fairy tales, literature, plays, biography, autobiography, memoirs, and studies of revolutionary movements, including feminism. She also shares the findings of hundreds of original interviews conducted over a period of more than twenty years.

"Important and brilliant. Here is the book to end all books about the subject that dares not speak its name. Until we understand woman's inhumanity to women we cannot begin to make our society more just. Phyllis Chesler has written a healing book to teach us how to love ourselves and each other."

--Erica Jong

"Everyone who cares about violence, both physical and psychological, must read Phyllis Chesler's myth-shattering and idea-transforming book. No intelligent discussion of the provocative issues she raises will ever be the same after this book becomes part of the canon. Some politically correct feminists will shudder, but they cannot ignore Woman's Inhumanity to Woman."

--Alan M. Dershowitz, author of Shouting Fire

"Drawing from a deep well of experience, reflection, and scientific research, Chesler has painted a revealing masterpiece of Woman's dark side. With relentless objectivity and admirable candor, Chesler exposes the human Female. Her courage exceeded only by her integrity, Chesler hammers sharp nails into the coffin of feminist wishful thinking about sex and gender roles, explodes the sophomoric myth that only men victimize and abuse women, and drives a large stake through the heart of Rousseauesque fantasies. Chesler's love of truth will make her some powerful enemies, but this book is way beyond Simone de Beauvoir."

--Lou Marinoff, PhD, author of Plato, Not Prozac!

"Phyllis Chesler has one of the most original and provocative minds in modern American feminism. It has always been her style to turn the conventional wisdom on its head, and take us wherever that leads. Here, in Woman's Inhumanity to Woman, she is in top form, enlivening her readers with an exciting and thought-provoking argument about the other side of sisterhood."

--Vivian Gornick

"The dynamite between these covers comes with responsible, even loving, warnings to handle its contents with care. There's anger here but also much undeniable pain and provocative, well-documented truth. This is a brave book. Her work is our public conscience."

--Letty Cottin Pogrebin, president of The Authors Guild

"Phyllis Chesler's book is wonderful, great, and generally divine. It tells the truth. Such a wealth of learning and academic irreverence. This is profound and helpful thinking."

--Kate Millett

"Writing with passion and force, Chesler brings her knowledge of an astonishing range of literary and scientific work to bear on this subject in a profoundly moving way. In spite of tremendous pressures to present a sunnier view, she powerfully, vividly documents instances of this inhumanity and the emotional and political devastation it creates. Chesler makes clearer than ever why feminist struggle still matters and how much we still have to overcome."

--Paula Caplan
author of Don't Blame Mother

Phyllis Chesler, psychologist and leading exponent of women's rights, is the author of the best-selling Women and Madness; Letters to a Young Feminist; With Child: A Diary of Motherhood; Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness; Feminist Foremothers in Mental Health; About Men; Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody; Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M; and Women, Money, and Power.