The Death of Feminism: What's Next in the Struggle for Women's Freedom

by Phyllis Chesler

Book Overview

Feminist icon and political activist Phyllis Chesler, author of the 2.5-million copy bestseller Women and Madness and the controversial The New Anti-Semitism, calls for an overhaul of the women's movement. In this important book, Phyllis Chesler asks the questions: Within feminism, is there room for free thinkers who oppose the party line? What if a feminist believes in capitalism? God? Patriotism? Chesler is the first to show the crisis in feminism...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1403975108
• ISBN13: 9781403975102
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Read this book!

Phyllis Chesler begins this book by explaining that feminists "have mounted brave and determined battles against rape, incest, domestic violence, economic and professional inequality, and local `cultural' practices such as honor killings, dowry burnings, female genital mutilation, and the global trafficking in women and children." That's a big accomplishment. Nevertheless, there is a problem. In recent times, many feminists have become "morally blind to the clear and present danger of Islamic gender apartheid." And some are now more interested in (or obsessed with) supporting very repressive anti-American and anti-Zionist Islamic terrorists than they are in supporting feminist causes. We see a surprising number of so-called feminists oppose those who tell the truth about Islamists, often calling such people "McCarthyists" and accusing them of silencing "free speech" and "academic freedom." However, as Chesler points out, while free speech and academic freedom are important, "professors are also supposed to teach the difference between the truth and a lie. The earth is round, not flat." I agree. The issue is not academic freedom; scholars now have the freedom to pursue the topics they choose. The issue is academic standards. And it seems that the pro-Islamists are the ones who are most guilty of silencing their political foes and restricting academic freedom. The author says that there are social reasons for some women to be especially susceptible to pressure here. Namely, many girls learn at an early age that they need to be "nice" to have friends. And these "girls learn how to express themselves carefully, minimally, falsely, passively, cleverly, and indirectly as the best way to stay alive both psychologically and socially." Worse, they learn not to support those who are slandered or shunned, as to do so would risk the same fate. Chesler paraphrases Edmund Burke here: "evil flourishes when enough good women do nothing to stop it." A few years ago, Chesler wrote a fine book, "The New Anti-Semitism." And she points out that a reviewer, Werner Dannhauser, praised her courage, saying "true courage does not so much consist in taking a stand against the majority as in taking a stand against one's peers." That's a good point. I would add, of course, that such stands ought to be based on facts and logic, not just on some illogical desire to oppose (or follow) some specific people or points of view. If one's peers say that the earth is indeed round, I'm not going to applaud anyone for having the "courage" to say it is flat. I think readers will find Chesler's description of her captivity in Afghanistan unforgettable. And there is some fine material on "the one-sided feminist academy." There's also an important discussion of Islamic gender apartheid in the West. This is a truly fundamental issue: when should European authorities be "tolerant" and avoid interfering in what will be claimed to be none of their business, and when

Paradigm Shift

If even half of what Chesler writes is true, there will be a paradigm shift in Western consciousness, especially the consciousness of feminists. The question Chesler is asking is: how could feminists have gotten so embroiled in pettiness and missed the really big picture in feminist issues? Anybody who has been paying any attention at all over the past 20 years, and who has remaining even a shred of capacity for independent thinking, must know that Chesler's description of Muslim society is accurate. Still, it is a shock to see the picture that emerges as she puts together so many pieces. If ever there was a Must Read, this is it.

Thank you Dr. Chesler for your accurate portrayal, from another Egyptian woman.

I was born and raised as a Muslim woman in Egypt and I salute Dr. Chesler's accurate and sensitive portayal of Muslim culture. Muslim women can read this book with an open mind. I believe that it helps greatly to see our culture from the eyes of an outsider. I dissagree with the comments made by the Egyptian lady who wrote a previous comment. We cannot just dismiss Dr. Chesler's great research and observations just because she is not Muslim or because she supports Israel. That would be very narrow minded and self defeating. We all come from different backgrounds and have our biases. But what we must face as Middle Eastern woman is the fact that in the Muslim world women are suffering and have challenges to overcome. We don't have to emulate the West 100%, but we certainly can support human rights and equality for our oppressed sisters back in the old culture. We cannot just reject and attack such a valuable book on the basis that it was written by someone you dissagree with politically or religiously. The stakes are too high and our culture needs the help of educated Arabs. The built in anger in Muslim families is causing turmoil in Muslim society that has no peace. This anger is the result of oppression of women. It is not only Muslim women who suffer as a result, it is men too and thus the whole family and society. I appreciate Dr. Chelser's insights. She reminded me of many things about my culture that I have burried in my memory years ago. Even though Egypt is not exacly like Afghanistan, but I saw the similarities. Thank you

A badly needed discourse

As an Iranian woman, I know the faces of both Islamic Fundamentalism and intolerant western feminists. I have seen both and felt the helplessness. This book has helped me to see the need to break down extremism on both sides and focus on the truth. Writing this book takes a lot of courage and not a lot people have the intellectual stamina to tackle both extreme right and left all at once. She indeed addressed the need to factor both gender and religious apartheid into US evolving foreign policies. We can not longer ignore the threat of Islamic Fundamentalism, I can certainly testify to this as an Iranian woman. Phyllis Chesler has enabled me to raise the discussion above party line and see the threat for what it is...Dr. Chesler, Thank you for such a great academic work. I will be using this in my writings and appreciate your unforgettable contribution.

Read it--and then read it again

Full disclosure: I helped research the contents of chapter 7, concerning the effects of Islamic treatment of women in the West. I will confine my comments to the rest of this book. In chapter four, Phyllis Chesler tells the story of her captivity in Kabul as the wife of an Afghan national. Although an Orthodox Jewish American girl, she married her college sweetheart in the summer of 1961 in New York state. He just happened to be a Muslim. In telling her story, she hopes to "help other westerners understand and empathize with Muslim and Arab women (and men) who are increasingly being held hostage to barbarous and reactionary customs." This is not only a laudable feminist goal, the story that Chesler tells is a compelling one. When she returned from her captivity in Afghanistan on December 21, 1961, she literally kissed the ground at Idewild (now Kennedy) Airport. When she had landed in Kabul as Ali's new foreign, American and Jewish bride, officials confiscated her passport, which she never saw again. Upon her arrival, her westernized husband "simply became another person." He barely spoke to her, and treated her with annoyed embarrassment, coldness and distance. Ali had never mentioned that his father was polygamous. But upon arrival in Kabul, Chesler was consigned to live with Ali's mother Aishah, or "Beebee Jan" (Dear Lady), whom his father had long since abandoned for his third wife. There came a time when Chesler was no longer allowed to slip out of her house unattended. She immediately went to the American Embassy, right next to the family compound. When she could not produce her passport, the Marines would escort her home, telling her that as "the wife of an Afghan national" she was no longer entitled to American protection. Beebee Jan stopped the servants from boiling Chesler's drinking water and washing all the fruits and vegetables. She allowed the cooks to use only rancid ghee (animal fat). Chesler lost weight rapidly. She began to starve. She contracted hepatitis, turned yellow and vomited continuously. She kept demanding to see an American doctor. At last, she was sent to the new Tom Dooley hospital, where the English-speaking doctor told her "you are very sick and you have to get out of here." Her mother-in-law tried to pull out the IV prescribed to deliver vitamins and nutrients. At last, her father-in-law was summoned. Seeing that her illness and departure would be a victory over his westernized son Ali, Agha Jan (Dear Master) told her he knew of her plans to escape with the help of a German wife. But he thought it best if she left with the family's approval, on an Afghan passport, which he handed her on the spot, along with a plane ticket. She flew via Aeroflot, via Tashkent, to Moscow, and finally on to New York. She survived, she now thinks, in part so she could "tell other westerners something about what it's like for a woman and an infidel to live under Islam." Islamists insist on religious freedom for themselves in the