PATRIARCHAL ATTITUDES: Women In Society

by Eva Figes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1970

Male chauvinism through the ages, ably analyzed and interpreted by novelist Eva Figes, who like many an author seeking to describe women in society has ended up writing a book largely about men. Figes wishes to demonstrate that nurture rather than nature has shaped all the secondary sex characteristics we define as masculine and feminine, and since women themselves have had so little say in defining the norms they are spoonfed, the discussion here centers around the attitudes of influential male thinkers from the men behind the Bible to Super Patriarch Sigmund Freud. Only in one chapter are females in the forefront, when Figes considers why some of the more successful women of the nineteenth century--Queen Victoria, George Eliot, Florence Nightingale, Charlotte Bronte--were ambivalent or even hostile toward the feminist movement. Figes does not feel that women have come a long way, and points out repeatedly how religious, cultural, and social taboos restricting female freedom have persisted to the present. There is also a decided emphasis on the economic aspects of women's oppression and the relationship of sex roles and family structure to the rise of capitalism. As a critique of the sex bias in Western traditions, this study covers much ground without being superficial, though it's far from an exhaustive survey.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1970

ISBN: 0892551224

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION