Woman's Inhumanity to Woman

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful New Book
Review: I am glad to be able to recommend a wonderful new book by the noted feminist psychologist and author, Phyllis Chesler. Chesler's new book, Woman's Inhumanity to Woman, is a brilliant exploration of the many ways in which women may interact badly with other women, be they mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, co-workers, employees, etc. Chesler explores and explodes the myth of sisterhood. She describes how women really treat each other and why they do so. However, Chesler does not merely describe reality. She also offers guidelines as to how women may improve their interrelationships, almost a "halakhic" (Jewish ethical path) which, if women follow will result in a kinder and better world for all. I recommend her book with a full heart, and hope that many people will read it, men included, for it is geared to tikkun olam. (The healing repair of the world).

Rivka Haut, Co-author of Daughters of the King: Women and the Synagogue and Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Jerusalem's Holiest Site.

Rating:
Summary: Chessler as usual
Review: I had to sit through hours reading this book and I must admit that it was painful.Not painful because I was experiencing the sadness experienced by women who have been subject to abuse by other women, but painful because every step of the way I was painfully aware that chessler writes with the unfortunate lack of understanding of the one thing one should keep in mind when writing about this subject.

Chessler sadly is an antifeminist who accepts male paradigms . the goal to keep in mind is the freeing of women from the male "mindbindings" and to foster true understanding.Chessler is clueless on womens true condition and epistemology.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: In this brilliant book, Chesler shatters the myths of her own feminist movement. In fact it is only by illuminating the truth that she remains loyal to her principles. By using extensive research, Chesler is able to analyze the relationships between women and moves from class to class, youth to old age, and culture to culture. She is able to explain how women internalize patriarchy and use it against themselves and other women. Chesler also looks at the age-old relationships between mothers and daughters, and from sister to sister and explains the psychology behind it all. She also looks at women in the workplace, and generally how women have unrealistic expectations for one another, judge each other more harshly, and more easily respect male authority. Chesler also adds some advise as to how women can stop this cycle, and begin to respect each other and work together or at least compete fairly, rather than continue to use gossip and indirect aggression to, sometimes,literally kill one another. This book was especially interesting to read as a feminist man. It allowed me to understand what I never could before: How women defeat their own kind, and are occassionally just as bad as the men I know.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read
Review: Thank God Phyllis Chesler wrote this book. It's about time humanity recognized that despite the "sisterhood" that is supposed to characterize and represent the "male brotherhood" of the "old boys club," it definitely doesn't work that way with women. In the backscratching that males do to aid each other, people forget that women have nails, and that backscratching becomes backstabbing more often than not. Whether it's attributable to the fact that women who feel their powerlessness feel a sense of desperation to hang on to it, or whether they are simply frustrated in having been deprived of it for so long, women's defense mechanisms can be far more devastating to other women than they could be, and often prevent that power from growing into something sustainable that can compete upon an equal footing for men in the challenges to be more autonomous. While men have long been known to be spiteful and shoot themselves in the foot, the phenomenon has been little discussed in the "women's movement" where small minds made big differences in failure, and may actually cripple progress. The unwillingness to delegate is part of the problem where so many women feel a possessiveness about their work that they are frantic when questioned or challenged by someone else. There is so little ground upon which to fight that it's a far more embittered battle for the little turf that exists. It may well be considered TARA amplified to its grossest outcome, to everyone's discomfort and disgust even though no one desires it, and might not even admit it.

Rating:
Summary: Lies & delusions of uber feminists
Review: The concept for Chesler's books is laudable, and the amount of time she put into this work is noteworthy. While I generally agree with most of her theories & findings, nothing contained in the book is necessarily new to anyone who's taken a couple women's studies courses in college. I think this book is great for the set of women who are unfamiliar with the concepts or who may not believe themselves to be feminists. For others more well-versed in the topic, the insights come across as somewhat obvious.

One of the main features of this book that put me off (as noted by another reviewer) is the poor job of copyediting done by someone at the publishing house. Typos are found throughout, but worse are the sections of many chapters where the author is just short of rambling. There are too many "lists" of supportive data or quotes from others' published works. I wanted more substantive theory, not page after page of anecdotal data.

But for all this criticism, the book is still an interesting read for those, like I described, who haven't yet been exposed to this vein of feminist thought.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional, courageous and intelligent
Review: This is one of the most important books any woman can read. I think all women, especially young women, should be required to read this book.
Phyllis Chesler shows amazing courage and insight. She writes about a subject no one wants to deal with- Women and their maltreatment of other women. This is something that all women must confront. It is a dirty little secret which needs to be dealt with in our time in order to erradicate this phenonmenon from future generations.
I feel the most sexist and patriarchal attitude is that women are "too loving and too nice" to be inhuman. Women are not one dimensional cut-outs. We are complex beings with complex issues.
To see women as either all good, or all bad is not helpful to women. We must see the how's and why's of women's inhumanity to other women, especially the mistreatment of daughters by mothers.
This book is a treasure.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional, courageous and intelligent
Review: This is one of the most important books any woman can read. I think all women, especially young women, should be required to read this book.
Phyllis Chesler shows amazing courage and insight. She writes about a subject no one wants to deal with- Women and their maltreatment of other women. This is something that all women must confront. It is a dirty little secret which needs to be dealt with in our time in order to erradicate this phenonmenon from future generations.
I feel the most sexist and patriarchal attitude is that women are "too loving and too nice" to be inhuman. Women are not one dimensional cut-outs. We are complex beings with complex issues.
To see women as either all good, or all bad is not helpful to women. We must see the how's and why's of women's inhumanity to other women, especially the mistreatment of daughters by mothers.
This book is a treasure.

Rating:
Summary: Lies & delusions of uber feminists
Review: Usual cleche all men all bad, where women go wrong is emulating men. Old story done to a crisp will be handy fodder for a generation of man haters. None of mans wars can match the casualties of Rowe vs Wade, a fact convieniently ignored by female supremasists.

in a word "BILGE"

Rating:
Summary: remarkable work
Review: when you see a title that is so seductive to the female psyche, it is difficult to ignore. For any woman who has ever lived outside of isolated confinement, read this book, understand its intentions for what it speaks, and devote at least an ear to every other women you come into contact with, nice or nasty, for you have not walked in their shoes. Women are complex animals, and this book will demonstrate not only human, but other species actions towards other females positive and negative.

Phyllis shares her own demons of this sometimes unhappy, brutal relationship dynamic, as well as the happy. This book is not for the sake of bashing all females, but for the sake of calling out to them, to open their eyes, and be better to one another. There are many personal examples that will come to mind as you read through the pages, saying to yourself..."hmm, sounds all too familiar." Upon presenting my own mother with a copy of the book, she gulped and said, "do I have to read it?" Like medicine for the soul, she knew where I was coming from, no question about that.

I recommend this book to every mother and daughter, every sister to sister, and every man(maybe going out on a limb with this!) who would like to read a work in which 20 years of one womans time captures the many facades of the female, the good, bad and the ugly.

Rating:
Summary: Towards A More Humane Way of Being
Review: Woman's Inhumanity to Woman is an important new addition to the feminist canon, analyzing underlying dynamics between women and exposing realities of what has and hasn't worked within feminism. The uncomfortable truths of the human condition with which Phyllis Chesler engages have too often been silenced and suppressed--subsumed beneath feminist rhetoric--leading to unnecessary antagonism and divisiveness that sabotages true solidarity and sisterhood. Through Chesler's dynamic diagnosis and powerful prescriptions, this book empowers readers to move forward in forging a movement that can authentically embody feminist ideals.

Chesler wonderfully weaves in compelling examples from psychology and primatology, folklore and fairytales, literature and life in order to illuminate the points and principles she is making. She doesn't pull punches in revealing hard truths, but she doesn't end her analysis at critique--she furnishes concrete examples of how sisterhood functions at its finest, and provides proactive approaches to more ethical behavior, which will enhance women's ability to flourish independently and in relationship with one another.

The clarity of Chesler's thinking and the resonance of her writing make Woman's Inhumanity to Woman a riveting read--and one that just might change the way you understand and engage with the world we live in.