Phyllis Chesler (born October 1, 1940) is an American writer,
psychotherapist
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome prob ...
, and
professor emerita
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
and
women's studies
Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...
at the
College of Staten Island
The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a public university in Staten Island, New York. It is one of the 11 four-year senior colleges within the City University of New York system. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and professional studie ...
(
CUNY
The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how ...
and the author of 18 books, including the best-sellers ''
Women and Madness
''Women and Madness'' is a 1972 book by Phyllis Chesler.
In the book, Chesler argues that women are negatively impacted by psychiatry and psychology due to the dominance of men in those fields. The work explores the effects on women in same-sex re ...
'' (1972), '' With Child: A Diary of Motherhood'' (1979), and ''An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir'' (2013). Chesler has written extensively about topics such as
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...
,
mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
,
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
and
child custody
Child custody is a legal term regarding '' guardianship'' which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of ''legal custody'', which is the ri ...
,
surrogacy
Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...
,
second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
W ...
,
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,
incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity ( marriage or stepfamily), ado ...
, and
violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against woman, women or Girl, girls, usually by Man, men or Boy, boys. Such ...
.
Chesler has written several works on subjects such as
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Ant ...
leftists
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in so ...
and feminists, have abandoned Western values in the name of
multicultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the idea that a person's beliefs and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture. Proponents of cultural relativism also tend to argue that the norms and values of one culture should not be evaluated ...
, and that this has led to an alliance with
Islamists
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern State (polity), states and Administrative division, regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, Economics, econom ...
, an increase in anti-Semitism, and to the abandonment of Muslim women and religious minorities in
Muslim-majority countries
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In ...
.
Personal life
Chesler was the eldest of three children raised in a
working-class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...
family in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...
. She attended Hebrew School from the age of six until she graduated from Marshalliah Hebrew High School, an after-school program for the study of
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, at 14. As a youth, she was a member of the
Socialist-Zionist
Labor Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, ) or socialist Zionism ( he, תְּנוּעָת הָעַבוֹדָה, label=none, translit=Tnuʽat haʽavoda) refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zioni ...
youth movement
HaShomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the gro ...
Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in J ...
youth movement
Ein Harod
Ein Harod ( he, עֵין חֲרוֹד) was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Palestine's kibbutz movement, hosting the headquarters of the largest kibbutz organisation, HaKibbutz H ...
. Despite her parents' disapproval, she continued to rebel against her religious upbringing.
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
Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark.
Founded in 18 ...
, where she met Ali, a Westernized Muslim man from
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...
, the son of devout Muslim parents. They married in a civil ceremony in 1961 in New York State, and visited in
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Ac ...
, in the large, polygamous household of her father-in-law. She credits this experience with inspiring her to become an ardent feminist.Chesler, Phyllis "How Afghan Captivity Shaped My Feminism" ''
Middle East Quarterly
The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who serves as its president. MEF became an independent non-profit organization in 1994. It publishes a journal, the ''Middle East Quarterly''.
Ac ...
'', Winter 2006, pp. 3–10.
According to Chesler, her problems began on arrival in Afghanistan. Afghan authorities forced her to surrender her U.S. passport, and she ended up a virtual prisoner in her in-laws' house. Chesler describes this as how foreign wives were treated. This phenomenon has been documented by others. She reports that the U.S. embassy refused to help her leave the country. After five months, she contracted
hepatitis
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...
and became gravely ill. At that point, her father-in-law agreed to allow her to return to the U.S. on a temporary visa.
Upon her return, she completed her final semester and graduated from
Bard College
Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark.
Founded in 18 ...
, embarked on a doctoral program, worked in a brain research laboratory for E. Roy John, published studies in ''Science'' magazine and received a fellowship in
neurophysiology
Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated b ...
at the
New York Medical College
New York Medical College (NYMC or New York Med) is a private medical school in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1860, it is a member of the Touro College and University System.
NYMC offers advanced degrees through its three schools: the School ...
at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital. She later earned a Ph.D. in psychology in 1969 at the New School for Social Research and embarked on a career as a professor, author, and psychotherapist in private practice.
Chesler obtained an annulment from her first husband and married an Israeli-American, whom she also later divorced. She has one son. She describes their relationship, pregnancy, childbirth, and her first year as a mother in ''With Child: A Diary of Motherhood''. In the 1998 edition, her son wrote the preface to the book.
Women and Madness
''Women and Madness'' is a 1972 book by Phyllis Chesler.
In the book, Chesler argues that women are negatively impacted by psychiatry and psychology due to the dominance of men in those fields. The work explores the effects on women in same-sex re ...
'', 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
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' review by
Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...
, 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, honor killings, and the mistreatment of women in jails and in psychiatric institutions. For many years she maintained a small psychotherapy practice and in 1997 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 is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jews, Jewish community, Brandeis was established on t ...
. From 2008 to 2012, Chesler submitted courtroom affidavits in cases where girls and women have fled being honor killed and applied for asylum in America.
Feminism
Chesler is considered a
radical feminist
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other s ...
and a second wave feminist leader. 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 is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...
classes in the U.S. at Richmond College (which later merged with Staten Island Community College to form the
College of Staten Island
The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a public university in Staten Island, New York. It is one of the 11 four-year senior colleges within the City University of New York system. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and professional studie ...
) 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
Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...
classes, a
rape crisis center
Rape crisis centers (RCCs) are community-based organizations affiliated with the anti-rape movement that work to help victims of rape, sexual abuse, and sexual violence. Central to a community's rape response, RCCs provide a number of services, s ...
, and a
child care
Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...
center. 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
The National Women's Health Network (NWHN) is a non-profit women's health advocacy organization located in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1975 by Barbara Seaman, Alice Wolfson, Belita Cowan, Mary Howell, and Phyllis Chesler. The stated missi ...
, 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.
In 1969, Chesler, together with others, co-founded the Association for Women in Psychology. With Dr. Dorothy Riddle, Chesler presented a series of demands at the 1969 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, demands which an Association for Women in Psychology group had worked on together. Chesler prepared a statement on the APA's obligations to women and demanded one million dollars in reparation for the damage psychology had perpetrated against allegedly mentally ill and traumatized women.
In her early work, although Chesler argued for integration, she also stated in 1972 that "feminists" and feminist values 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". In 1977, Chesler became an associate of the
Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press
Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP) is an American nonprofit publishing organization that was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1972. The organization works to increase media democracy and strengthen independent media. Mo
Basic info ...
. 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 custodially embattled mothers and speakers attended, including Ti-Grace Atkinson,
E.M. Broner
Esther M. Broner, best known as E.M. Broner, (, Masserman; July 8, 1927 – June 21, 2011) was a Jewish American feminist author.
Personal life
Broner attended Wayne State University and received a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's ...
Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
, and
Kate Millett
Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended Oxford University and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honors ...
. 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 Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
(D-NY) and
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U. ...
(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
Baby M (born March 27, 1986) was the pseudonym used in the case ''In re Baby M'', 537 A.2d 1227, 109 N.J. 396 (N.J. 1988) for the infant whose legal parentage was in question.
Origins
''In re Baby M'' was a custody case that became the first Am ...
'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 1989, Chesler began publishing in ''On the Issues'' magazine and also functioned as its Editor-at-Large. She did so for fifteen years until the magazine became an online edition.
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 women in prostitution and the dangerous conditions they routinely face. The public defender did not call any of these witnesses, which became one of the grounds of the appeal that Wuornos' lawyers launched in the Florida Supreme Court. Chesler wrote about the legal and psychiatric issues raised by the case in ''The New York Times'' and ''St. John's Law Review'' and the ''Criminal Practice Law Report''.
Views of women and Judaism
In 1976, the first feminist Passover seder in North America was held in Chesler's New York City apartment and led by Broner, with 13 women attending, including Chesler. Chesler also created and participated in Jewish feminist life cycle rituals.
In 1988, Chesler was among the women who prayed with a Torah for the first time in an all-female, multi-denominational, non-
minyan
In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Jud ...
group at the
Western Wall
The Western Wall ( he, הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the western wall, often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. 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
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
. She published her first
dvar Torah
Torah study is the study of the Torah, Tanakh, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature, and similar works, all of which are Judaism's Sifrei kodesh, religious texts. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the study is done for the purpose of ...
(Bible interpretation) in 2000.
Activist against racism and anti-Semitism
In the 1960s, Chesler was active in the Northern Student Movement. 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
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Ca ...
members. In 1973, Chesler co-organized the first press conference about feminism and anti-Semitism, and in 1974–1975, she co-organized the first Jewish feminist speakout in New York City. In 1981, Chesler organized the first-ever panel on racism, anti-Semitism, and feminism for the National Women's Studies Association in Storrs, Connecticut.
In 2013, Chesler was appointed a Fellow of the Middle East Forum.
Book summaries
''Women and Madness'' (1972)
''Women and Madness'' is now considered a classic work. The poet and essayist
Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...
's front-page review in ''The New York Times'' (cited above) was a first of its kind for a feminist work. When it first appeared, at least one critic viewed the work as "radical" and "overstated". Other reviews were more positive. ''The Saturday Review'' opined that "this is an extremely important book, a signal that the
women's liberation movement
The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
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. In his review for ''Le Monde'', Roland Jaccard wrote that "like any important book, ''Women and Madness'' 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
Bella Savitzky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998), nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, politician, social activist, and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Stein ...
hailed the book as "powerful ... a realistic analysis of women's economic and political condition".Phyllis Chesler official website Florynce 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'' describes the relationships between brothers, sons and fathers, and sons and mothers. When it was published in 1978, the book 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
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his wor ...
". John Leonard of ''The New York Times'' wrote that Chesler "has written a brave, sad, disorderly, sometimes self-indulgent, often infuriating, always provocative book."
''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
Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war come ...
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ...
Marilyn French
Marilyn French (; November 21, 1929 – May 2, 2009) was an American radical feminist author.
Life
French was born in Brooklyn to E. Charles Edwards, an engineer, and Isabel Hazz Edwards, a department store clerk. In her youth, she was a jour ...
). It was also reviewed in the mainstream media. Caroline Seebohm of ''The New York Times'' noted that this book stood out because it was written by a radical feminist, and describes it as "a nice mixture of romantic charm and intellectual insight." In 1998, Chesler's eighteen-year-old son wrote a new introduction to the book.
''Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M'' (1988)
''Sacred Bond'' discussed the issues raised by the high-profile Baby M 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. This issue remains timely and is frequently in the news.
''Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness'' (1994)
This volume consists of several articles written by Chesler on topics such as the Aileen Wuornos, Baby M, child abuse, treatment of women in mental health institutions, and patriarchy. It also includes a critique of Naomi Wolf's book ''Fire with Fire''.
''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 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."
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Steinem was a ...
endorsed the book and found it a "warm, personal, political, irresistible guide for young feminists, women and men."
''Woman's Inhumanity to Woman'' (2002)
This pioneering 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's ''The New Anti-Semitism: The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It'' was issued in 2003. The book received positive notices from a range of reviewers including former Prisoner of Zion and author Natan Sharansky, British Chief Rabbi Lord
Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks ( he, יונתן הנרי זקס, translit=Yona'tan Henry Zaks; 8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United ...
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appointe ...
and Jay Lefkowitz. Sharansky praised the book as "authoritative" and "sensitive", and added "anyone who wants to understand the connection between anti-Semitism, Islamic terrorism, the role of propaganda and appeasement must read this book." Sack added "I admire the courage of this vision and the power of the writing."
Historian Paul Johnson also praised the book as "impassioned, highly readable and often painful." It "show(s) how closely connected is hatred of Jews to its psychological twin, anti-Americanism. Anti-Semitism is now striking roots in the campus again, in the guise of political correctness--and ironically--anti-racism. (This) book reminds us how hard civilized people need to fight against it."
Some reviews were more critical. A 2003 review in ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' 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 argues that their desire to avoid being labeled "racists" or "Islamophobes" eventually trumped their concern with women's and human rights in the Third World. 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''.
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 de 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
Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended Oxford University and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honors ...
, 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." Lawyer
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appointe ...
called the work "a '' tour de force'' ... a must read".
She was also interviewed about the book in the ''Chicago Tribune''. and ''London Guardian''. In 2006, Chesler participated at the First Muslim Dissident Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, which she covered for the ''Times'' of London.
''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 Journal'' and '' Kirkus Reviews''.
''An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir ''(2013)
An account of her 1961 marriage to an Afghan man, her brief married life in a harem in Afghanistan, and the lifelong lessons she learned. The book uses material from diaries, letters, and interviews spanning a fifty-year period to describe this ill-fated relationship and the experiences that Chesler believes forged her feminism. ''American Bride in Kabul'' won a
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.Islamic gender segregation.
This volume covers a variety of topics facing women in the Muslim world including the burqa and face veil, child marriage, polygamy, honor-based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), state-sponsored and vigilante attacks (including stoning and disfiguring women by throwing acid in their faces), forced female suicide killers, and other injustices that have been minimized or denied by Western media and governments. In the book, Chesler points out that many other feminists have ignored or refused to concern themselves with these issues and encourages American women to oppose the gender segregation of Muslim women as it threatens their own freedom as well.
The New English Review described the book as "in the same league as other courageous writers,
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; ; Somali: ''Ayaan Xirsi Cali'':'' Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī;'' born Ayaan Hirsi Magan, ar, أيان حرسي علي / ALA-LC: ''Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī'' 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and former politici ...
... important for US policy makers as well as for other feminists."
''A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing'' (2018)
By 2003, Chesler had started to write about honor killings based on newspaper accounts, sources available online, interviews and memoirs and later produced a number of academic studies on honor killings in the West, the Middle East and South Asia. The studies along with more than 90 articles are collected in the book.
Chesler distinguishes honor killings from homicides, domestic violence and crimes of passion in that honor killings are carried out by a family due to their perception of a woman having brought public dishonor. In the book, the empirical evidence leads Chesler to conclude that the origins of honor killings are more likely to reside in tribalism rather than any single religion. Simultaneously, Chesler holds Islam,
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global po ...
and
Sikhism
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit= Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fr ...
responsible for failing to abolish or to even try to abolish honor killings and femicides. For example, in Pakistan, a Muslim country, Chesler notes that religious authorities do not condemn honor killings.
Chesler describes this book as the work of "an academic-turned-frontline-reporter." the murder of girls and women accused or suspected of any disapproved activity (refusing an arranged marriage, refusing to veil, insisting on an education, leaving a violent marriage, having infidel friends, talking to boys or sexual activity outside marriage (including rape)).
The "crimes" Chesler cites that have resulted in honor killing also include wanting to marry the "wrong" man in terms of caste, class, or religious sect, or leaving one's religion.
"Being born female in a shame-and-honor culture is, potentially, a capital crime; every girl has to keep proving that she is not dishonoring her family; even so, an innocent girl can be falsely accused and killed on the spot… Her virginity belongs to her family and is a token of their honor. If she is not a virgin, the shame belongs to her family and they must cleanse themselves of it with blood; her blood", she writes.
''A Politically Incorrect Feminist'' (2018)
In ''A Politically Incorrect Feminist'' (2018), Chesler discusses the women who fought for women's rights and inspired others to do so.
In a review for ''
Los Angeles Review of Books
The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012 ...
'', Miriam Greenspan writes, "Chesler's genius is her refusal to submit to tribalism. In recounting harsh truths about feminist leaders, whom she takes to task for promulgating herd thinking or abandoning their values for the sake of political expediency, she shows how even the most progressive social justice movements can sometimes betray their own best ideals. Her memoir is a cautionary tale for today's social activists, who tend to be largely ignorant of the disappeared history of the woman's movement and are thus repeating some of its mistakes. Those who would continue the struggle for social justice would do well to read this book and take its hard-earned lessons to heart.”
''Requiem for a Female Serial Killer'' (2020)
This book chronicles the crimes of Aileen Wuornos, America's so-called first female serial killer, Chesler's involvement with her case, and with Wuornos's trials and eventual execution. It is a genre-blended true-crime narrative, both fictional and non-fictional and sees events through Wuornos's eyes. She also profiles the way in which Wuornos is a unique serial killer. ''Requiem'' portrays prostitution as the greatest form of violence against women and discusses whether every woman, including a prostitute, has the right to defend herself. Chesler discusses the racism, sexism, and the nature of justice/injustice in north-central Florida and the feminist involvement in the case.
''Requiem'' has been endorsed by
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Steinem was a ...
, who wrote "We finally have begun to recognize women as victims — but why the silence when women fight back?"
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appointe ...
praised the book, "If you love true crime thrillers, as I do, you must read Requiem with its feminist psychological twist. You won't be able to put it down. Chesler, an eminent psychologist, gets inside the mind of a unique female serial killer. FBI profilers should be ordering their copies right now."
Critique of Islam
On December 14, 2005, Chesler delivered a presentation before a
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and ...
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 fundamentalist 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".
Chesler made statements critical of Islam in the context of the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other eff ...
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."
She has cited
Bat Ye'or
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, occupation = Writer
, nationality = British
, signature=
, alma_mater = University College LondonUniversity of Geneva
, genre=
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's
Eurabia
Eurabia is a political neologism, a portmanteau of Europe and Arabia, used to describe a far-right, anti-Muslim conspiracy theory, involving globalist entities allegedly led by French and Arab powers, to Islamise and Arabise Europe, thereby we ...
thesis as a warning to the West, and has been described as part of the
counter-jihad
Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic bel ...
movement.
Honor-related violence and honor killings
Chesler published four studies about
honor killing
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of ...
s in the American journal ''
Middle East Quarterly
The Middle East Forum (MEF) is an American conservative think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who serves as its president. MEF became an independent non-profit organization in 1994. It publishes a journal, the ''Middle East Quarterly''.
Ac ...
'' in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015. In one such essay, she wrote that 91% of the total worldwide cases of honour killings (as reported in English-language media) were Muslim-on-Muslim crimes, including those committed in North America and Europe.Phyllis Chesler, "Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence", ''Middle East Quarterly'', Spring 2009; Phyllis Chesler, "Worldwide Trends in Honor Killings", ''Middle East Quarterly'', Spring 2010. Based on these sources, Chesler concluded that "there are at least two types of honor killings and two victim populations". She identified 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. In her most recent essay, Chesler asserts that both Hindus and Muslims commit honor killings, but that only Muslims do so worldwide.
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 other societies.
As a result of her observations about Islam and honor killing, Muslim and left-wing activists successfully lobbied the University of Arkansas to remove Chesler from an academic conference on honor killing because they did not approve of her coverage of the subject. In an address before the
New York County Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
, Chesler reported that she has submitted affidavits on behalf of Muslim women and converts from Islam who 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 published an essay in ''Middle East Quarterly'' calling for the
burqa
A burqa or a burka, or , and ur, , it is also transliterated as burkha, bourkha, burqua or burqu' or borgha' and is pronounced natively . It is generally pronounced in the local variety of Arabic or variety of Persian, which varies. Examp ...
to be banned in western countries. She argued in defense of this position that despite the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...
's command to both men and women to dress "modestly", several Muslim-majority countries have, in the past, banned the full
burqa
A burqa or a burka, or , and ur, , it is also transliterated as burkha, bourkha, burqua or burqu' or borgha' and is pronounced natively . It is generally pronounced in the local variety of Arabic or variety of Persian, which varies. Examp ...
or niqab. She argued that the overwhelming majority of Muslim countries do not require that women wear a face veil and noted that the burqa can function as a "sensory deprivation and isolation chamber."
In addition, Chesler has written that she is not opposed to the Islamic veil (hijab, headscarf) because it does not obscure a woman's facial identity. However, she also notes that there is a connection between a range of physical and psychiatric illnesses associated with forced veiling; these include the visible subordination of women, as well as the obvious lack of sunlight. However, she has also said she is not opposed to the Islamic headscarf (hijab).
Other
Chesler began writing about rape, incest, sexual harassment, and domestic violence during the late 1960s. Her focus has mainly been on Western countries, but with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, and gender apartheid, and the Islamist persecution of women and infidels, Chesler began to explore similar themes in Muslim-majority countries. She has argued, in a paraphrase of Nancy Kobrin, that some
suicide bomber
A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout history ...
s may be unconsciously acting out their hatred of women in committing violent acts. A 2006 review in the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'' described Chesler's views on this subject as "compelling, if strident".
Muslim feminists and dissidents such as Ibn Warraq, Amir Taheri and Farzana Hassan have lauded Chesler's work in this area as ground-breaking and truthful. Ibn Warraq has praised Chesler's "great service in presenting the fruit of her sober research."
In a separate article, Hassan praised Chesler's memoir ''An American Bride in Kabul'' as a "poignant and fascinating account has many lessons for women -- and men -- of all cultures."
Recent activities
In recent years, Chesler has sparked controversy, both for her work on honor-based violence, including honor killing, and for her outspoken criticism of anti-Jewish racism. Beginning in the 1990s Chesler has authored six books about the failures of Western feminism, anti-Semitism, Islamic gender and religious apartheid and honor killing and has criticized Western feminists for failing to defend women in non-Western societies.
Her work on these topics has sparked backlash. In April, 2017 Chesler's keynote address to a conference on honor-based violence at the University of Arkansas Law School was cancelled. The controversy was written about widely on social media, and Dr. Chesler was almost immediately invited by a group of grassroots activists at University College London to address a conference at that institution in November 2017.
Also in 2017, Taylor & Francis declined to publish her two volumes in this area, New English Review Press immediately agreed to do so. In the fall of 2017, they published ''Islamic Gender Apartheid: Exposing a Veiled War Against Women'' with a new introduction. The original introduction appeared at ''Tablet'', Middle East Forum, and ''Mosaic''.
At the same time, Chesler has received accolades from Islamic feminist organizations. In 2018, she received a "True Honor" award from the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organization (IKWRO) at a ceremony in London. The same year, she selected, edited, and newly introduced her volume ''A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing'' (April 2018). It was translated into German by Henryk M. Broder's group and posted at his blog Die Achse des Guten.
A major interview with Dr. Chesler appeared in
EMMA
Emma may refer to:
* Emma (given name)
Film
* Emma (1932 film), ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown
* Emma (1996 theatrical film), ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow
* Emma (1996 TV film), '' ...
, a German feminist magazine.
In addition, from 2012 to 2020 Chesler submitted courtroom affidavits to support asylum applications for girls and women at risk of honor-based violence in their countries of origin.
In a 2021 article for
Tablet Magazine
''Tablet'' is an online magazine focused on Jewish news and culture. The magazine was founded in 2009 and is supported by the Nextbook foundation. Its editor-in-chief is Alana Newhouse.
History
''Tablet'' was founded in 2009 with the suppo ...
titled "The Progressive Erasure of Feminism," Chesler wrote that the Equality Act would "dangerously privilege a minority over the majority by endangering women's sex-based rights in terms of sports, and women-only safe spaces in prisons, DV and homeless shelters, and in the military."
From 2021-2022, Dr. Chesler was privileged to co-lead an international team which rescued 400 women from Afghanistan. She wrote 2 articles about this, which helped to raise funds for this mission.
Books
* ''
Women and Madness
''Women and Madness'' is a 1972 book by Phyllis Chesler.
In the book, Chesler argues that women are negatively impacted by psychiatry and psychology due to the dominance of men in those fields. The work explores the effects on women in same-sex re ...
'' (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)
* ''An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir'' (2013)
* ''Living History: On the Front Lines for Israel and the Jews: 2003–2015'' (2015)
* ''Islamic Gender Apartheid. A Veiled War Against Women'' (2017)
* ''A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing'' (2018)
* ''A Politically Incorrect Feminist: Creating a Movement with Bitches, Lunatics, Dykes, Prodigies, Warriors, and Wonder Women'' (2018)
* ''Requiem for a Female Serial Killer'' (2020)
See also
* Aurora Nilsson, a Swedish woman with similar experiences as a wife of an Afghan man in Kabul in the 1920s, who also wrote about her experiences.