Phyllis Chesler
Encyclopedia
Phyllis Chesler is an American
writer, psychotherapist
, and professor emerita
of psychology
and women's studies
at the College of Staten Island
(CUNY). She is known as a feminist
psychologist, and is the author of 14 books, including the best-seller Women and Madness, With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979), and Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (1986), and the recent publications Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman (2002), Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Judaism’s Holy Site (2002), The New Anti-Semitism: The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It (2003), The Death of Feminism (2005), and a 25th Anniversary Edition of Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (2011) with eight new chapters and a new introduction. Her work has been translated into many European languages, as well as into Hebrew, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
For more than 40 years, Chesler has written on topics such as gender and mental illness, gender bias among mental health professionals, male psychology, the nature of motherhood, divorce and child custody, surrogacy, the legacy of second-wave feminism
, pornography, prostitution, incest, and violence against women.
In the last decade, she has written about academic freedom, women’s rights, human rights, civil rights, women's religious rights, woman's inhumanity to woman, jihad, and the dangers of terrorism. Chesler argues that leftists have abandoned Western values in the name of multicultural relativism, and that this has led to an alliance with Muslim extremists, an increase in antisemitism over the past decade, and to the abandonment of Muslim women, Muslim and ex-Muslim feminists and human rights activists, and religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries.
, New York
. She attended New Utrecht High School
where she was the editor of the yearbook and of the literary magazine. She won a full scholarship to Bard College
, where for two years she had a relationship with a fellow student from Afghanistan
. She was briefly married to him in 1961, during which time the couple lived in the capital city of Kabul
, Afghanistan, in the large, polygamous household of her father-in-law. She credits this experience with inspiring her to become an ardent feminist.
According to Chesler, her problems began on arrival in Afghanistan. The authorities forced her to surrender her U.S. passport
, and she ended up a virtual prisoner in her in-laws' house. Chesler argues that this is how all foreign wives were and are treated. She reports that the U.S. embassy repeatedly refused to help her leave the country. After several months, she contracted hepatitis
and became gravely ill. She attributes the disease to the actions of several members of the household, who deliberately gave her unboiled water. At that point, her father-in-law made it possible for her return to the U.S. on a temporary visa.
Upon her return, she completed her final semester and graduated from Bard
, embarked on a doctoral program, worked in a brain research laboratory for Dr. E. Roy John, published studies in Science magazine and received a fellowship in neurophysiology
at the New York Medical School at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital. Thereafter, in 1969, she earned a Ph.D. in psychology at the New School for Social Research and embarked on careers as a professor, author, and psychotherapist in private practice.
Chesler also married an Israeli, with whom she had a son. She describes their relationship, pregnancy, childbirth, and her first year as a newborn mother in With Child: A Diary of Motherhood. In the 1998 edition, her son wrote the Preface to the book.
, who described it as “intense, rapid, brilliant, controversial…a pioneer contribution to the feminization of psychiatric thinking and practice.”
Chesler has been consulted by lawyers, psychologists and psychiatrists on diverse subjects including sex between patient and therapist, rape, incest, domestic violence, custody, and the mistreatment of women in jails and in psychiatric institutions.
In 1997, she taught a course in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College.
In 1997, she was the sole expert witness in a class action lawsuit in Nebraska on behalf of female psychiatric patients who had been sexually, physically, medically, and psychologically abused.
In 1998, she taught a course in Advanced Psychology and Women’s Studies at Brandeis University
.
. However, Chesler believes that men can and should be feminists, and she wrote in her book Letters to a Young Feminist that she envisions her heirs as both women and men. Chesler has studied male psychology and published a book on the subject (About Men) which discussed the father-son, mother-son, and brother-brother relationships; the book also tried to understand male conformity, how and why men obeyed the orders of male tyrants, and what kind of men resisted doing so.
Chesler taught one of the first Women's Studies
classes in the U.S. at Richmond College
(which later merged with Staten Island Community College to form the College of Staten Island
) in New York City
during the 1969–1970 school year. She turned the women's studies course into a minor and then a major at the university. With Vivian Gornick, she created an early feminist salon. In 1975, she co-led one of the first feminist Passover seders and continued to do so for 18 years. During her time at Richmond College, she established many services for female students, including self-defense
classes, a rape crisis center, and a child care center. Chesler opposed turning Women’s Studies into a major but did not prevail. She was also a leader in the class action lawsuit against CUNY on behalf of women which took 17 years to be resolved. In 1975, she became one of five cofounders of The National Women's Health Network, with Barbara Seaman
, Alice Wolfson
, Belita Cowan, and Mary Howell
, and is a charter member of the Women's Forum and a founding member of the International Committee for Women of the Wall. She was an editor-at-large and columnist for On The Issues Magazine for over 15 years.
In 1970, Chesler called for reparations from the American Psychological Association
for having diagnosed and treated women in biased and sexist ways and for contributing to women's suffering.
She stated in 1972 that "feminists must gradually and ultimately dominate public social institutions—in order to insure that they are not used against women", and argued that there has always been "a war between the sexes".
Chesler worked for the United Nations (1979–1980) and coordinated an international feminist conference that took place in Oslo, just prior to the 1980 UN conference on women.
In 1986, Chesler co-organized a speakout about mothers losing custody of children at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Nearly 500 women and speakers attended. New York State and national legislators and feminist leaders participated.
Also in 1986, Chesler co-organized a congressional press briefing in Washington, D.C. on mothers and child custody. It was sponsored by then-Representatives Charles Schumer
(D-NY) and Barbara Boxer
(D-CA). Some of the mothers she interviewed for her 1986 book Mothers on Trial spoke at the briefing.
In 1987, Chesler worked with Mary Beth Whitehead's lawyer Harold Cassidy in the landmark Baby M
case, in which the New Jersey Supreme Court declared that surrogacy contracts violated New Jersey law. Chesler organized demonstrations outside the courthouse, wrote articles, created an alliance of diverse groups, and ultimately documented this struggle and the issues raised by a surrogacy contract custody battle in Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M.
In 1990–1991, Chesler organized expert witnesses in the case of Aileen Wuornos
, a female serial killer. Chesler's stated goal was to educate the jury and the country about the lives of prostituted women and the dangerous conditions they routinely face. The public defender did not call any of these witnesses, which became one of the grounds for Wuornos' decision to appeal her death sentence in the Florida Supreme Court. Chesler wrote about the legal and psychiatric issues raised by the case in the St. John's Law Review and the Criminal Practice Law Report.
Chesler is a self-described Zionist
who has drawn a parallel between Zionism and feminism.
In 1988 Chesler was among the women who prayed with a Torah for the first time in an all-female, multi-denominational, non-minyan
group at the Western Wall
in Jerusalem. In 1989, Chesler co-founded the International Committee for Women of the Wall
to promote the religious rights of Jewish women in Jerusalem; she became one of the name plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state of Israel on this issue. In 2002, she and co-author Rivka Haut both edited and contributed to an anthology on this subject.
In 1989, Chesler began to study Torah
. She published her first dvar Torah (Bible interpretation) in 2000. She has since published and/or delivered additional Torah commentaries.
.
Chesler has written about the participation of African-American women in the American civil rights movement in the 1960s and was interviewed on camera in a documentary about Viola Liuzzo, a white female civil rights activist who was murdered by Ku Klux Klan members.
In 1973, Chesler co-organized a press conference about feminism and antisemitism, and in 1974-1975 she co-organized the first Jewish feminist speakout in New York City.
In 1981, Chesler organized a panel on this subject for the National Women’s Studies Association in Storrs, Connecticut.
For example, The Saturday Review opined that “this is an extremely important book, a signal that the women’s liberation movement is coming of age…she writes with high passion and compassion.” The Los Angeles Times described it as a “stunning book…fascinating and important to every woman”; The Boston Phoenix viewed the book as “an extensively researched and deeply intuitive exploration of woman’s psychic experience…invaluable.” When the book was translated into European languages many reviews appeared. Le Monde’s reviewer wrote that “this important book has the immense merit of ‘troubling the world’s sleep.’”
case, in which surrogacy was ultimately declared illegal in the state of New Jersey. Despite liberal feminist opposition, Chesler defended the rights of the birth mother, Mary Beth Whitehead, who wanted to keep her child even though the genetic father and his wife were a more educated and higher income couple.
The New York Times described this book as “a powerful critique of the way many of us were inclined to think.” A Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote that Sacred Bond is “a powerful, provocative book…illustrating social problems sure to remain controversial.” The book and its views were also condemned by pro-surrogacy lobbies, pro-adoption lobbies, and by feminists who were concerned with maximizing their options in case of infertility.
The Chicago Tribune described this as "a frank assessment of the past and a radical recipe for the future." The New York Times felt much of the advice was unnecessary since “Feminism's daughters have outgrown their bunk beds.” The reviewer found the book “strident” and fails to reach younger feminists but concedes that "Chesler does an admirable job. She writes poignantly of the way in which her generation was eerily silent about woman-hating among women, including among feminists. She implores readers to adopt a more global perspective on women's rights.” Salon noted that “the book mostly seemed to piss off its intended audience.”
Nevertheless, reviews from feminists of her own generation were more positive. For example, Susan Brownmiller
wrote, "The sweet, clear voice of these Letters should reach across the generation gap like Joshua's trumpet. This is Phyllis Chesler writing at the top of her form."
In addition, the book was reviewed in Salon, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews.
and Alan Dershowitz
. Natan Sharansky
described the book as "sensitive," "authoritative," and "essential reading".
Some reviews were more critical. A 2003 review in Publishers Weekly
argued that the book "too often undercuts itself when its author intends to be provocative," citing lines such as "African-Americans (not Jews) are the Jews in America but Jews are the world's niggers." The review piece concluded that "Chesler's tone and lack of intellectual rigor will not help her ideas to be heard by those who do not already agree with her."
The Death of Feminism was excerpted in Playboy magazine, but she was also interviewed by the Washington Times, and positively reviewed in the pages of The Weekly Standard and The National Review. This book was praised by Muslim and ex-Muslim activists and intellectuals, including feminists, and by conservative thinkers, but condemned by many Western feminist leftists whose values and behavior Chesler had critiqued.
Kirkus called it a “loud wake up call…a fierce polemic, filled with vigorous arguments and distressing human stories.” Publishers Weekly wrote: “She has penned a cross between a cri di coeur and a deeply rhetorical polemic that makes scores of provocative points…As in her last book, The New Anti-Semitism Chesler Raised important issues, but her style will alienate the very people she means to reach.”
However, leading Second Wave feminist Kate Millett, who wrote Sexual Politics, Flying, and Going to Iran, praised The Death of Feminism: “In telling her story she is sounding a warning to the West that it ignores to its peril.” Liberal lawyer Alan Dershowitz called the work “a tour de force…a must read.” Ibn Warraq, a leading ex-Muslim human rights activist and scholar, described the book as “a welcome critique of the Feminist Left’s willful and shameful neglect of their sisters’ plight in the Islamic world”. Amir Taheri
wrote: “Anyone interested in understanding Islamism, this latest enemy of open societies, should read this book.”
She was also interviewed about the book in the Chicago Tribune.
and Kirkus Reviews
.
committee entitled, "Gender Apartheid in Iran and the Muslim World," She called for the U.S. government to oppose what she described as "Islamic gender apartheid" and to support the rights of women living in what she described as oppressive Islamic regimes. "If we do not oppose and defeat Islamic gender apartheid, democracy and freedom cannot flourish in the Arab and Islamic world," she said. "If we do not join forces with Muslim dissident and feminist groups; and, above all, if we do not have one universal standard of human rights for all -- then we will fail our own Judeo-Christian and secular Western ideals." She also told the committee that her experience in Afghanistan taught her "the necessity of applying a single standard of human rights, not one tailored to each culture."
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Chesler made statements critical of Islam in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
in a 2007 interview with the Jewish Press. She was quoted as saying, "It's easy to say, yes, the Muslims are against everyone who is not a Muslim. And it's true. That's part of what jihad is about, that's part of the history of Islam. [...] Here's the thing. The West, and that means Jews and Israelis, would like to lead sweet and peaceful lives. We’re up against an enemy now that is dying to kill us, that lives to kill, and that at best merely wishes to impose on the rest of us its laws and strictures."
Honor killings
Chesler published two essays about honor killing
s in the American journal Middle East Quarterly
in 2009 and 2010. In one essay, she asserted that 91% of the total worldwide cases of honour killings that she found reported in the English-language media were Muslim-on-Muslim crimes, with slightly higher figures for reported killings in North America and Europe. Based on these sources, Chesler has concluded that "there are at least two types of honor killings and two victim populations." She identifies the first group as consisting of daughters with an average age of seventeen who were killed by their families, and the second group as consisting of women with an average age of thirty-six.
Chesler argues that honor killings differ qualitatively from Western domestic femicide. She has acknowledged that "many honorable feminists" disagree with this position, writing that "understandably, such feminists fear singling out one group for behavior that may be common to all groups." Chesler's position is that perpetrators of domestically violent femicide are regarded as criminals in the west but that the same stigma does not attach to honor killings in all other societies.
In an address before the New York County Supreme Court, Chesler reported that she has submitted affidavits on behalf of Muslim women and converts from Islam whom she contends believed themselves to be in danger of being the victims of honor killing, and who sought asylum and citizenship in the United States.
Burqas
In 2010, Chesler wrote a further essay in Middle East Quarterly calling for the burqa
to be banned in western countries. She argued in defense of this position that the Qur'an
commands both men and women to dress "modestly"; that several Muslim-majority countries have, in the past, banned the full burqa
or niqab
, and that the overwhelming majority of Muslim countries do not require that women wear a face veil; that the burqa can function as a "sensory deprivation and isolation chamber"; and that physical and psychiatric illnesses are associated with lack of sunlight. She wrote that she was not opposed to the headscarf (hijab), on the grounds that it does not obscure a woman’s facial identity.
Other
Chesler has written that sexual abuse is widespread in Muslim communities worldwide, and that such abuse "leads to paranoid, highly traumatized and revenge-seeking adults." She has further argued, in a paraphrase of Nancy Kobrin, that some suicide bombers may be unconsiously acting out their hatred of women in committing violent acts. A 2006 review in the Toronto Star
described Chesler's views on this subject as "compelling, if strident," also noting that she "often uses the word 'Muslim' as opposed to 'Islamic fundamentalist,' thus aggravating the problem of an 'us vs. them' mentality."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer, psychotherapist
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
, and professor emerita
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
of psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and women's studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
at the College of Staten Island
College of Staten Island
The College of Staten Island is a four-year, senior college of and is one of the 11 senior colleges in the City University of New York. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and professional studies lead to bachelor's and associate's degrees. The master's degree is awarded in 13 professional...
(CUNY). She is known as a feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
psychologist, and is the author of 14 books, including the best-seller Women and Madness, With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979), and Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (1986), and the recent publications Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman (2002), Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Judaism’s Holy Site (2002), The New Anti-Semitism: The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It (2003), The Death of Feminism (2005), and a 25th Anniversary Edition of Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (2011) with eight new chapters and a new introduction. Her work has been translated into many European languages, as well as into Hebrew, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
For more than 40 years, Chesler has written on topics such as gender and mental illness, gender bias among mental health professionals, male psychology, the nature of motherhood, divorce and child custody, surrogacy, the legacy of second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism
The Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
, pornography, prostitution, incest, and violence against women.
In the last decade, she has written about academic freedom, women’s rights, human rights, civil rights, women's religious rights, woman's inhumanity to woman, jihad, and the dangers of terrorism. Chesler argues that leftists have abandoned Western values in the name of multicultural relativism, and that this has led to an alliance with Muslim extremists, an increase in antisemitism over the past decade, and to the abandonment of Muslim women, Muslim and ex-Muslim feminists and human rights activists, and religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries.
Personal life
Chesler was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. She attended New Utrecht High School
New Utrecht High School
New Utrecht High School is a coeducational public high school in Brooklyn, New York City, serving 3,114 pupils. It is part of New York City Region 7....
where she was the editor of the yearbook and of the literary magazine. She won a full scholarship to Bard College
Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
, where for two years she had a relationship with a fellow student from Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. She was briefly married to him in 1961, during which time the couple lived in the capital city of Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, Afghanistan, in the large, polygamous household of her father-in-law. She credits this experience with inspiring her to become an ardent feminist.
According to Chesler, her problems began on arrival in Afghanistan. The authorities forced her to surrender her U.S. passport
United States passport
United States passports are passports issued to citizens and non-citizen nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides issuing passports , also limited use passport cards are issued by the same organization subject to the same...
, and she ended up a virtual prisoner in her in-laws' house. Chesler argues that this is how all foreign wives were and are treated. She reports that the U.S. embassy repeatedly refused to help her leave the country. After several months, she contracted hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
and became gravely ill. She attributes the disease to the actions of several members of the household, who deliberately gave her unboiled water. At that point, her father-in-law made it possible for her return to the U.S. on a temporary visa.
Upon her return, she completed her final semester and graduated from Bard
Bard College
Bard College, founded in 1860 as "St. Stephen's College", is a small four-year liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.-Location:...
, embarked on a doctoral program, worked in a brain research laboratory for Dr. E. Roy John, published studies in Science magazine and received a fellowship in neurophysiology
Neurophysiology
Neurophysiology is a part of physiology. Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system function...
at the New York Medical School at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital. Thereafter, in 1969, she earned a Ph.D. in psychology at the New School for Social Research and embarked on careers as a professor, author, and psychotherapist in private practice.
Chesler also married an Israeli, with whom she had a son. She describes their relationship, pregnancy, childbirth, and her first year as a newborn mother in With Child: A Diary of Motherhood. In the 1998 edition, her son wrote the Preface to the book.
Psychologist
In 1969, she cofounded the Association for Women in Psychology. In 1972, she published Women and Madness, whose thesis is "that double standards of mental health and illness exist and that women are often punitively labeled as a function of gender, race, class, or sexual preference." The book sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. The book received a front page New York Times review by Adrienne RichAdrienne Rich
Adrienne Cecile Rich is an American poet, essayist and feminist. She has been called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century."-Early life:...
, who described it as “intense, rapid, brilliant, controversial…a pioneer contribution to the feminization of psychiatric thinking and practice.”
Chesler has been consulted by lawyers, psychologists and psychiatrists on diverse subjects including sex between patient and therapist, rape, incest, domestic violence, custody, and the mistreatment of women in jails and in psychiatric institutions.
In 1997, she taught a course in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College.
In 1997, she was the sole expert witness in a class action lawsuit in Nebraska on behalf of female psychiatric patients who had been sexually, physically, medically, and psychologically abused.
In 1998, she taught a course in Advanced Psychology and Women’s Studies at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
.
Feminism
Chesler considers herself a radical feministRadical feminism
Radical feminism is a current theoretical perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption that "male supremacy" oppresses women...
. However, Chesler believes that men can and should be feminists, and she wrote in her book Letters to a Young Feminist that she envisions her heirs as both women and men. Chesler has studied male psychology and published a book on the subject (About Men) which discussed the father-son, mother-son, and brother-brother relationships; the book also tried to understand male conformity, how and why men obeyed the orders of male tyrants, and what kind of men resisted doing so.
Chesler taught one of the first Women's Studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
classes in the U.S. at Richmond College
Richmond College
Richmond College is a primary and secondary school in Galle, Sri Lanka. The school was established in 1814 by Christian missionaries. Richmond College is now a well established institution with a reputation as one of the finest schools in Sri Lanka...
(which later merged with Staten Island Community College to form the College of Staten Island
College of Staten Island
The College of Staten Island is a four-year, senior college of and is one of the 11 senior colleges in the City University of New York. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and professional studies lead to bachelor's and associate's degrees. The master's degree is awarded in 13 professional...
) in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
during the 1969–1970 school year. She turned the women's studies course into a minor and then a major at the university. With Vivian Gornick, she created an early feminist salon. In 1975, she co-led one of the first feminist Passover seders and continued to do so for 18 years. During her time at Richmond College, she established many services for female students, including self-defense
Self-defense
Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
classes, a rape crisis center, and a child care center. Chesler opposed turning Women’s Studies into a major but did not prevail. She was also a leader in the class action lawsuit against CUNY on behalf of women which took 17 years to be resolved. In 1975, she became one of five cofounders of The National Women's Health Network, with Barbara Seaman
Barbara Seaman
Barbara Seaman was an American author, activist, and journalist, and a principal founder of the women's health feminism movement.-Early years:Seaman, whose parents, Henry J...
, Alice Wolfson
Alice Wolfson
Alice Wolfson, a Barnard graduate and former Fulbright Scholar, is a veteran political activist in women's reproductive health issues, a lawyer, and a co-founder of the National Women's Health Network....
, Belita Cowan, and Mary Howell
Mary Howell
Mary Catherine Raugust Howell was a physician, psychologist, lawyer, mentor, musician and mother. She was the first woman dean at Harvard Medical School and led the fight to end quotas and open medical schools to women.-Biography:Dr. Howell was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota...
, and is a charter member of the Women's Forum and a founding member of the International Committee for Women of the Wall. She was an editor-at-large and columnist for On The Issues Magazine for over 15 years.
In 1970, Chesler called for reparations from the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
for having diagnosed and treated women in biased and sexist ways and for contributing to women's suffering.
She stated in 1972 that "feminists must gradually and ultimately dominate public social institutions—in order to insure that they are not used against women", and argued that there has always been "a war between the sexes".
Chesler worked for the United Nations (1979–1980) and coordinated an international feminist conference that took place in Oslo, just prior to the 1980 UN conference on women.
In 1986, Chesler co-organized a speakout about mothers losing custody of children at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Nearly 500 women and speakers attended. New York State and national legislators and feminist leaders participated.
Also in 1986, Chesler co-organized a congressional press briefing in Washington, D.C. on mothers and child custody. It was sponsored by then-Representatives Charles Schumer
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...
(D-NY) and Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Levy Boxer is the junior United States Senator from California . A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives ....
(D-CA). Some of the mothers she interviewed for her 1986 book Mothers on Trial spoke at the briefing.
In 1987, Chesler worked with Mary Beth Whitehead's lawyer Harold Cassidy in the landmark Baby M
Baby M
Baby M was the pseudonym used In re Baby M, 537 A.2d 1227, 109 N.J. 396 for the infant named Sara Elizabeth Whitehead at her birth, and later named Melissa Stern by her father and adoptive mother....
case, in which the New Jersey Supreme Court declared that surrogacy contracts violated New Jersey law. Chesler organized demonstrations outside the courthouse, wrote articles, created an alliance of diverse groups, and ultimately documented this struggle and the issues raised by a surrogacy contract custody battle in Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M.
In 1990–1991, Chesler organized expert witnesses in the case of Aileen Wuornos
Aileen Wuornos
Aileen Carol Wuornos was an American serial killer who killed seven men in Florida in 1989 and 1990, claiming they raped or attempted to rape her while she was working as a prostitute...
, a female serial killer. Chesler's stated goal was to educate the jury and the country about the lives of prostituted women and the dangerous conditions they routinely face. The public defender did not call any of these witnesses, which became one of the grounds for Wuornos' decision to appeal her death sentence in the Florida Supreme Court. Chesler wrote about the legal and psychiatric issues raised by the case in the St. John's Law Review and the Criminal Practice Law Report.
Chesler is a self-described Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
who has drawn a parallel between Zionism and feminism.
Views of women and Judaism
In 1975, Chesler co-founded and for 18 years co-led the first feminist Passover seder which took place in Manhattan. She also created and participated in Jewish feminist life cycle rituals. A film about this feminist seder exists in which Chesler talks about the importance of including sons and male intimates in these feminist-inspired and women-led ritual.In 1988 Chesler was among the women who prayed with a Torah for the first time in an all-female, multi-denominational, non-minyan
Minyan
A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
group at the Western Wall
Western Wall
The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount...
in Jerusalem. In 1989, Chesler co-founded the International Committee for Women of the Wall
Women Of The Wall
Women of the Wall is an organization based in Israel, whose goal is to secure women's right to hold and read the Torah and to wear religious garments at the Western Wall. They have organized a series of Women's prayer groups at the Kotel each month on Rosh Hodesh...
to promote the religious rights of Jewish women in Jerusalem; she became one of the name plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state of Israel on this issue. In 2002, she and co-author Rivka Haut both edited and contributed to an anthology on this subject.
In 1989, Chesler began to study Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
. She published her first dvar Torah (Bible interpretation) in 2000. She has since published and/or delivered additional Torah commentaries.
Activist against racism and antisemitism
In the 1960s, Chesler was active in the Northern Student MovementNorthern Student Movement
The Northern Student Movement was an American civil rights organization founded at Yale University in 1961 by Peter J. Countryman...
.
Chesler has written about the participation of African-American women in the American civil rights movement in the 1960s and was interviewed on camera in a documentary about Viola Liuzzo, a white female civil rights activist who was murdered by Ku Klux Klan members.
In 1973, Chesler co-organized a press conference about feminism and antisemitism, and in 1974-1975 she co-organized the first Jewish feminist speakout in New York City.
In 1981, Chesler organized a panel on this subject for the National Women’s Studies Association in Storrs, Connecticut.
Women and Madness (1972)
Women and Madness is now considered a classic work. The poet and essayist Adrienne Rich’s front page review in the New York Times (cited above) was a first of its kind for a feminist work. However, when it first appeared, critics also viewed it as “strident” or “man hating”, as “frustrating", “poorly written”, and "overstated". However, the majority of the views were positive.For example, The Saturday Review opined that “this is an extremely important book, a signal that the women’s liberation movement is coming of age…she writes with high passion and compassion.” The Los Angeles Times described it as a “stunning book…fascinating and important to every woman”; The Boston Phoenix viewed the book as “an extensively researched and deeply intuitive exploration of woman’s psychic experience…invaluable.” When the book was translated into European languages many reviews appeared. Le Monde’s reviewer wrote that “this important book has the immense merit of ‘troubling the world’s sleep.’”
Women, Money and Power (co-authored with Emily Jane Goodman) (1976)
The book is an in-depth study of gender-based economic disparities in America in the 1970s. Congresswoman Bella Abzug hailed the book as “powerful…a realistic analysis of women’s economic and political condition.” Florynce R. Kennedy wrote that the book “is the antidote for the poison of women’s powerlessness.” The New York Times gave it a mixed review but described it as “useful not only for its theoretical insights but for its presentation of a number of practical items.” Kirkus called it “caustic and abrasive” but also “impressively researched…one of the more challenging works to come out of the women’s movement.”About Men (1978)
About Men was described as “psychologically voluptuous, it plunges through the bloody underbrush of male-male relationships…insisting that we look at men with fresh and fearless eyes.” Robert Seidenberg, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY, wrote that Chesler defined manhood "with a brilliance and erudition equal to the task," describing Chesler as men's "Tocqueville".With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979)
Chesler was one of only a small number of second-wave feminists to focus on motherhood. In With Child: A Diary of Motherhood, Chesler explored the experience of pregnancy, childbirth, and the first year of “newborn” motherhood in psychological, spiritual, and mythic terms. The book was endorsed by both men (Alan Alda, Gerold Frank) and women (Judy Collins, Tillie Olsen, Marilyn French). It was also reviewed in the mainstream media.Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M (1988)
Sacred Bond discussed the issues raised by the high-profile Baby MBaby M
Baby M was the pseudonym used In re Baby M, 537 A.2d 1227, 109 N.J. 396 for the infant named Sara Elizabeth Whitehead at her birth, and later named Melissa Stern by her father and adoptive mother....
case, in which surrogacy was ultimately declared illegal in the state of New Jersey. Despite liberal feminist opposition, Chesler defended the rights of the birth mother, Mary Beth Whitehead, who wanted to keep her child even though the genetic father and his wife were a more educated and higher income couple.
The New York Times described this book as “a powerful critique of the way many of us were inclined to think.” A Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote that Sacred Bond is “a powerful, provocative book…illustrating social problems sure to remain controversial.” The book and its views were also condemned by pro-surrogacy lobbies, pro-adoption lobbies, and by feminists who were concerned with maximizing their options in case of infertility.
Letters to a Young Feminist (1998)
In 1998, Chesler wrote a “legacy” letter. She wanted to share the history of her generation of feminists with coming generations and to point to work still left undone. The work was lauded by feminists of her era and mocked or minimized by daughter-generation feminists who did not want to keep standing on the shoulders of a previous generation with whom they disagreed and with whom they were in competition.The Chicago Tribune described this as "a frank assessment of the past and a radical recipe for the future." The New York Times felt much of the advice was unnecessary since “Feminism's daughters have outgrown their bunk beds.” The reviewer found the book “strident” and fails to reach younger feminists but concedes that "Chesler does an admirable job. She writes poignantly of the way in which her generation was eerily silent about woman-hating among women, including among feminists. She implores readers to adopt a more global perspective on women's rights.” Salon noted that “the book mostly seemed to piss off its intended audience.”
Nevertheless, reviews from feminists of her own generation were more positive. For example, Susan Brownmiller
Susan Brownmiller
Susan Brownmiller is an American feminist, journalist, author, and activist. She is best known for her pioneering work on the politics of rape in her 1975 book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, Brownmiller argues that rape had been hitherto defined by men rather than women; and that men use,...
wrote, "The sweet, clear voice of these Letters should reach across the generation gap like Joshua's trumpet. This is Phyllis Chesler writing at the top of her form."
Woman's Inhumanity to Woman (2002)
This book addressed the subject of female indirect aggression, both in the family and the workplace, both in childhood and adulthood, and covered woman's capacity for cruelty, competition, envy, and ostracism; the ways in which women, like men, have internalized sexist beliefs; and the importance of acknowledging the "shadow side" of female-female relationships, especially because such relationships are so important to women. The book was reviewed in many publications, and the author was interviewed widely in South America, North America (including in the New York Times), Europe, and Asia. It received a front page review in the Washington Post Book World written by Deborah Tannen. Tannen wrote: “Chesler seems to have read everything and thought deeply about it....Along with social commentary and psychological insight, Chesler offers astute literary criticism....many of Chesler’s richest scenarios are drawn from the more than 500 interviews she conducted…many of Chesler’s examples have an unmistakable and heartbreaking ring of familiarity. The time has come to stop idealizing or demonizing either sex. Seeing women, like men, as capable of both courage and jealousy, of providing care, and causing pain, is no more nor less than acknowledging women as fully human."In addition, the book was reviewed in Salon, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews.
The New Anti-Semitism (2003)
Chesler has also campaigned against what she and others regard as a "New antisemitism," a subject that she addressed in her book The New Anti-Semitism: The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It (2003). The book received positive notices from Erica JongErica Jong
Erica Jong is an American author and teacher best known for her fiction and poetry.-Career:A 1963 graduate of Barnard College, and with an M.A...
and Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
. Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky
Natan Sharansky was born in Stalino, Soviet Union on 20 January 1948 to a Jewish family. He graduated with a degree in applied mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. As a child, he was a chess prodigy. He performed in simultaneous and blindfold displays, usually against...
described the book as "sensitive," "authoritative," and "essential reading".
Some reviews were more critical. A 2003 review in Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
argued that the book "too often undercuts itself when its author intends to be provocative," citing lines such as "African-Americans (not Jews) are the Jews in America but Jews are the world's niggers." The review piece concluded that "Chesler's tone and lack of intellectual rigor will not help her ideas to be heard by those who do not already agree with her."
The Death of Feminism (2005)
In The Death of Feminism:What's Next in the Struggle for Women's Freedom, Chesler documented how western academic and activist feminists came to abandon their former concepts of universal human rights for everyone and became multicultural relativists. She claims that their desire to avoid being labeled “racists” or “Islamophobes” eventually trumped their concern with women’s and human rights in the Third World, especially in Muslim-majority countries. The mainstream media, such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, which in the past had reviewed Chesler’s work, declined to review The New Anti-Semitism and The Death of Feminism.The Death of Feminism was excerpted in Playboy magazine, but she was also interviewed by the Washington Times, and positively reviewed in the pages of The Weekly Standard and The National Review. This book was praised by Muslim and ex-Muslim activists and intellectuals, including feminists, and by conservative thinkers, but condemned by many Western feminist leftists whose values and behavior Chesler had critiqued.
Kirkus called it a “loud wake up call…a fierce polemic, filled with vigorous arguments and distressing human stories.” Publishers Weekly wrote: “She has penned a cross between a cri di coeur and a deeply rhetorical polemic that makes scores of provocative points…As in her last book, The New Anti-Semitism Chesler Raised important issues, but her style will alienate the very people she means to reach.”
However, leading Second Wave feminist Kate Millett, who wrote Sexual Politics, Flying, and Going to Iran, praised The Death of Feminism: “In telling her story she is sounding a warning to the West that it ignores to its peril.” Liberal lawyer Alan Dershowitz called the work “a tour de force…a must read.” Ibn Warraq, a leading ex-Muslim human rights activist and scholar, described the book as “a welcome critique of the Feminist Left’s willful and shameful neglect of their sisters’ plight in the Islamic world”. Amir Taheri
Amir Taheri
Amir Taheri is an Iranian-born conservative author based in Europe. His writings focus on the Middle East affairs and topics related to Islamist terrorism. He gained international fame as the man behind the 2006 Iranian sumptuary law controversy.-Career:Taheri's biography at Benador Associates...
wrote: “Anyone interested in understanding Islamism, this latest enemy of open societies, should read this book.”
She was also interviewed about the book in the Chicago Tribune.
Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (2011)
In 2011, Chicago Review Press published a 25th anniversary edition of Chesler's 1986 book Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody, in which she argues that the American legal system is biased and overworked and continues to fail the needs of mothers and children, especially those whose husbands and fathers are violent and vindictive. She discusses topics such as prolonged litigation, joint custody, court enabled incest, brainwashing, kidnapping, gay and lesbian custody, fathers' rights groups, and international child custody laws. The new edition includes a new introduction and eight new chapters. The new edition received favorable notices from the Library JournalLibrary Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
and Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
.
Statements and writings on Islam
On December 14, 2005, Chesler delivered a presentation before a United States SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
committee entitled, "Gender Apartheid in Iran and the Muslim World," She called for the U.S. government to oppose what she described as "Islamic gender apartheid" and to support the rights of women living in what she described as oppressive Islamic regimes. "If we do not oppose and defeat Islamic gender apartheid, democracy and freedom cannot flourish in the Arab and Islamic world," she said. "If we do not join forces with Muslim dissident and feminist groups; and, above all, if we do not have one universal standard of human rights for all -- then we will fail our own Judeo-Christian and secular Western ideals." She also told the committee that her experience in Afghanistan taught her "the necessity of applying a single standard of human rights, not one tailored to each culture."
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Chesler made statements critical of Islam in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
in a 2007 interview with the Jewish Press. She was quoted as saying, "It's easy to say, yes, the Muslims are against everyone who is not a Muslim. And it's true. That's part of what jihad is about, that's part of the history of Islam. [...] Here's the thing. The West, and that means Jews and Israelis, would like to lead sweet and peaceful lives. We’re up against an enemy now that is dying to kill us, that lives to kill, and that at best merely wishes to impose on the rest of us its laws and strictures."
Honor killings
Chesler published two essays about honor killing
Honor killing
An honor killing or honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community...
s in the American journal Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly is a peer reviewed quarterly journal, a publication of the American conservative think tank Middle East Forum founded by Daniel Pipes in 1994. It is devoted to subjects relating to the Middle East and Islam and analyzes the region "explicitly from the viewpoint of American...
in 2009 and 2010. In one essay, she asserted that 91% of the total worldwide cases of honour killings that she found reported in the English-language media were Muslim-on-Muslim crimes, with slightly higher figures for reported killings in North America and Europe. Based on these sources, Chesler has concluded that "there are at least two types of honor killings and two victim populations." She identifies the first group as consisting of daughters with an average age of seventeen who were killed by their families, and the second group as consisting of women with an average age of thirty-six.
Chesler argues that honor killings differ qualitatively from Western domestic femicide. She has acknowledged that "many honorable feminists" disagree with this position, writing that "understandably, such feminists fear singling out one group for behavior that may be common to all groups." Chesler's position is that perpetrators of domestically violent femicide are regarded as criminals in the west but that the same stigma does not attach to honor killings in all other societies.
In an address before the New York County Supreme Court, Chesler reported that she has submitted affidavits on behalf of Muslim women and converts from Islam whom she contends believed themselves to be in danger of being the victims of honor killing, and who sought asylum and citizenship in the United States.
Burqas
In 2010, Chesler wrote a further essay in Middle East Quarterly calling for the burqa
Burqa
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...
to be banned in western countries. She argued in defense of this position that the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
commands both men and women to dress "modestly"; that several Muslim-majority countries have, in the past, banned the full burqa
Burqa
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. The burqa is usually understood to be the woman's loose body-covering , plus the head-covering , plus the face-veil .-Etymology:A speculative and unattested etymology...
or niqab
Niqab
A niqab is a cloth which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb...
, and that the overwhelming majority of Muslim countries do not require that women wear a face veil; that the burqa can function as a "sensory deprivation and isolation chamber"; and that physical and psychiatric illnesses are associated with lack of sunlight. She wrote that she was not opposed to the headscarf (hijab), on the grounds that it does not obscure a woman’s facial identity.
Other
Chesler has written that sexual abuse is widespread in Muslim communities worldwide, and that such abuse "leads to paranoid, highly traumatized and revenge-seeking adults." She has further argued, in a paraphrase of Nancy Kobrin, that some suicide bombers may be unconsiously acting out their hatred of women in committing violent acts. A 2006 review in the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
described Chesler's views on this subject as "compelling, if strident," also noting that she "often uses the word 'Muslim' as opposed to 'Islamic fundamentalist,' thus aggravating the problem of an 'us vs. them' mentality."
List of books by Phyllis Chesler
- Women and Madness (1972 and revised 2005)
- Women, Money and Power (1976)
- About Men (1979)
- With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979)
- Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (1986)
- Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M (1988)
- Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness (1994)
- Feminist Foremothers in Women's Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health (1995)
- Letters to a Young Feminist (1997)
- Woman's Inhumanity to Woman (2002)
- Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Judaism's Holy Site (2002)
- The New Anti-Semitism. The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It (2003)
- The Death of Feminism: What's Next in the Struggle For Women's Freedom (2005)
- Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (25th Anniversary Edition) (2011)