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Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism
Mary Daly's New Intergalactic Introduction explores her process as a Crafty Pirate on the Journey of Writing Gyn/Ecology and reveals the autobiographical context of this "Thunderbolt of Rage" that she first hurled against the patriarchs in 1979 and no hurls again in the Re-Surging Movement of Radical Feminism in the Be-Dazzling Nineties.
540 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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3,990 people want to read
About the author
Mary Daly
52Ìýbooks156ÌýfollowersMary Daly was an American radical feminist philosopher, academic, and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at Boston College, a Jesuit-run institution, for 33 years. Daly consented to retire from Boston College in 1999, after violating university policy by refusing to allow male students in her advanced women's studies classes. She allowed male students in her introductory class and privately tutored those who wanted to take advanced classes.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
May 3, 2008
This book really got me off my ass about feminism. it was the most extreme analysis I had ever read about the oppression of woman. It is this type of thinking that I think helped fuel the backlash against feminism. NOT because it was wrong ( though I think some things were exaggerated or not quite true) but because it so accurately reflect how deep the psychological underpinnings of patriarchy operate. And how most woman, who swear they are feminist are unaware of behaviors and attitudes that reflect patriarchal thinking and reinforce oppression
it is very post modern in some ways, but very "modern" in others . She is NOT a relativist, and she looks at how language especially frames woman's ability to see their selves as less than fully human. Among other radical ideas, she proposed reinventing a feminist language that would undermine every element of patriarchy in relations between woman. She was very much for segregating men and woman NOT because of an innate hostility, but because woman NEED to develop their own culture based on strength and wisdom and love without the tainting influence of even the most well meaning men.
While I think some for the particulars of her analysis are incomplete, the basic premise seems more important now than ever because so many woman THINK they understand feminism and believe they are liberated. It is almost taken as a given that if you are politically aware and are a lesbian involved in gender issues that you are ;liberated. Daly would both argue that there is much much more to being liberated than ones sexual orientation and political engagement.
it is very post modern in some ways, but very "modern" in others . She is NOT a relativist, and she looks at how language especially frames woman's ability to see their selves as less than fully human. Among other radical ideas, she proposed reinventing a feminist language that would undermine every element of patriarchy in relations between woman. She was very much for segregating men and woman NOT because of an innate hostility, but because woman NEED to develop their own culture based on strength and wisdom and love without the tainting influence of even the most well meaning men.
While I think some for the particulars of her analysis are incomplete, the basic premise seems more important now than ever because so many woman THINK they understand feminism and believe they are liberated. It is almost taken as a given that if you are politically aware and are a lesbian involved in gender issues that you are ;liberated. Daly would both argue that there is much much more to being liberated than ones sexual orientation and political engagement.
June 8, 2018
Basically, the BEST book on radical feminism ever written
November 10, 2010
Every man needs to read this book if they want to be an ally to woman. This is a difficult read, and men will get very defensive unless they realize that this is statement about the patriarchy rather than an individual; however, just the way our male body is less vulnerable than that of a woman, and has been all throughout time, and that we are physically larger and stronger, "we" have oppressed woman, we have raped, we have disfigured and we, in the form of patriarchy have defined femininity. We have dictated what is moral, and not moral, we have decided what a woman's role in society. "Femininity is a male construct."
We are son's and we all have mothers. We need to know what their life has been like. What it is like to feel unsafe walking down the street, and be objectified by most men. What is it like for mostly men (gynecologists) to be probed, invaded and ultimately surgically altered often without choice. We need to know the atrocities that happen to woman all over the world, but not forgetting that these atrocities happen in our own culture.
The patriarchy hurts everyone, it hurts every man by dictating roles, ways of being, feelings that are allowed to be felt, attitudes that we are allowed to take. When it wants to humiliate us, it uses its own constructs of femininity to call us names. It uses female body parts to say that we are less than men.
We are son's and we all have mothers. We need to know what their life has been like. What it is like to feel unsafe walking down the street, and be objectified by most men. What is it like for mostly men (gynecologists) to be probed, invaded and ultimately surgically altered often without choice. We need to know the atrocities that happen to woman all over the world, but not forgetting that these atrocities happen in our own culture.
The patriarchy hurts everyone, it hurts every man by dictating roles, ways of being, feelings that are allowed to be felt, attitudes that we are allowed to take. When it wants to humiliate us, it uses its own constructs of femininity to call us names. It uses female body parts to say that we are less than men.
September 26, 2024
Through her writing, Mary Daly mothers those of us whose birth mothers, swallowed by patriarchal religions, eeked out depressed, shamed lives.
Today, such forces continue to dogmatically silence and subjugate.
Daly examines how sexist vocabulary shapes injustice, which is then rationalized, glossed over or minimized.
Gross inequality will continue as long as ignorance naps in the arms of false guarantees and dishonest protection. Thank you, Courageous Truthteller Mary Daly.
Eleanor Cowan, author of :
Today, such forces continue to dogmatically silence and subjugate.
Daly examines how sexist vocabulary shapes injustice, which is then rationalized, glossed over or minimized.
Gross inequality will continue as long as ignorance naps in the arms of false guarantees and dishonest protection. Thank you, Courageous Truthteller Mary Daly.
Eleanor Cowan, author of :
February 25, 2016
Spinsters spin all ways, always.
August 8, 2014
In defense of Mary Daly: I love Gyn/Ecology even if Audre Lorde doesn't. I love Daly's insistence on di-secting words in order to draw out their meanings (some may find it gimmicky). The rest of her published works don't interest me the way Gyn/Ecology does, but I think Ms. Daly is genius. More feminists should read her even if her brand of feminism is out of style.
April 18, 2014
Some of the best writing I've ever read. Daly's project here is incredibly central and important for feminism. I am very, very impressed by her writing style--completely apart from the political implications of the work. An explosive attempt at the radical phenomeno-hermeneutical liberation of women. An overall important supplement to any modern work on phenomenological ontology.
April 23, 2010
LJ user :
Okay, I know. Daly was problematic in a million different ways. She was often dismissive of WOC, she was downright contemptuous of trans women and men, and she didn't have much use for the cis brand of men either. Add to that her own idiosyncratic, too-cute-by-half idiomatic language, heavily leaning on wordplay, and it's enough to daunt anyone. But Gyn/Ecology, when you get past all the nonsense, does such a good job looking at the oppressive nature of the patriarchy in many different cultures, and the similarities thereof. She was incredibly flawed, but she was out there on her own in a way and a time that very few others were. It's not for everyone, but it sure blew my mind when I read it back in the 20th century.
Okay, I know. Daly was problematic in a million different ways. She was often dismissive of WOC, she was downright contemptuous of trans women and men, and she didn't have much use for the cis brand of men either. Add to that her own idiosyncratic, too-cute-by-half idiomatic language, heavily leaning on wordplay, and it's enough to daunt anyone. But Gyn/Ecology, when you get past all the nonsense, does such a good job looking at the oppressive nature of the patriarchy in many different cultures, and the similarities thereof. She was incredibly flawed, but she was out there on her own in a way and a time that very few others were. It's not for everyone, but it sure blew my mind when I read it back in the 20th century.
March 18, 2008
The section on the skin-crawling origin of the gynecological medical specialty alone is worth the price of the book. Daly's unvarnished and very angry ruminations on patriarchy are very thought-provoking. Casually picking this book up was my introduction to radical feminist thought, and it was like jumping in the deep end for me.
October 8, 2008
radical feminist theory at its finest
November 6, 2019
So, I absolutely devoured this book. I think I read it in such a sprint because the meat of this book was really about ills of patriarchal society I already knew about - FGM, footbinding, etc. I was hoping to come away with something new, something I could take home with me, but it never really amounted to that, for me personally.
I had already read "The Myth of Mental Illness" by Thomas Szasz earlier this year, and Daly incorporated a lot his themes into one of the more controversial elements of this book - her derision of therapuetic practice, or "mind-gynecology." It's a bitter pill to swallow, but I'm glad she said it.
I think Daly is still too far ahead of her time and unfortunately, it seems current feminists are not welcoming to her ideas due to the silencing and deplatforming of second wave feminists who do not adhere to current gender politics, ie. transgenderism (or, in Daly's day, transsexualism). If any of today's feminists read this book, they will see right through today's gender politics and understand it is just a reiteration of the same thing Daly, her contemporaries, and our foremothers had to deal with - a whitewashing of our feminist history, a way to disconnect us from our past and further divide and suppress our movement.
I do encourage all women to read this book, not because I think they'll agree or because I think it's unflinchingly good, but because it's necessary for us to hear each other out. It's also a good bit of fun, too, if you like stuff that's a little 1970s-era acid trippy.
I had already read "The Myth of Mental Illness" by Thomas Szasz earlier this year, and Daly incorporated a lot his themes into one of the more controversial elements of this book - her derision of therapuetic practice, or "mind-gynecology." It's a bitter pill to swallow, but I'm glad she said it.
I think Daly is still too far ahead of her time and unfortunately, it seems current feminists are not welcoming to her ideas due to the silencing and deplatforming of second wave feminists who do not adhere to current gender politics, ie. transgenderism (or, in Daly's day, transsexualism). If any of today's feminists read this book, they will see right through today's gender politics and understand it is just a reiteration of the same thing Daly, her contemporaries, and our foremothers had to deal with - a whitewashing of our feminist history, a way to disconnect us from our past and further divide and suppress our movement.
I do encourage all women to read this book, not because I think they'll agree or because I think it's unflinchingly good, but because it's necessary for us to hear each other out. It's also a good bit of fun, too, if you like stuff that's a little 1970s-era acid trippy.
March 31, 2013
I read this book in my 30's and found Daly's unravelling of Patriarchy a huge eye opener. Her outrage and imagination are unmatched in anything else I've read and were positively refreshing. I feel feminist theory is like a banquet - choose from all the food groups for the best nutrition and be as daring as possible in your tastes if you want to do more than survive - to thrill your pallet. What I've eaten at Daly's banquet has continued to serve me well. Here's Daly's Radical Feminism served up with intergalactic sauce. Some people discount her wholesale, because she has some decidedly unsavoury convictions (for one thing she's transphobic) - but I don't think they taint everything she has to offer. In the early 90's my friends and I wrote a Fringe play borrowing heavily (read cut-and-paste) from Gyn/Ecology and influenced by a couple other of Daly's books including her wonderful "Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language", "Outercourse: The Bedazzling Voyage, Containing Recollections from My Logbook of a Radical Feminist Philosopher" and "Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation". We called it The Happy Cunt and created quite a stir, along with sold-out houses, on the festival circuit.
July 21, 2020
This book made me a radical feminist. Bored of timid, watered-down feminism, where you have to make a million concessions before you can say a damn thing about the oppression women experience? Weary of third-wavers mindlessly telling you that porn and prostitution are fun and empowering? Want to read something bold, thought-provoking, and thoroughly feminist? Read Mary Daly!
January 1, 2024
Mary Daly is a terf. don't read this. while her overall analysis of many subjects is very interesting and written in a way that is easy to understand, it is hard to look past the blatant transphobia.
October 6, 2009
Must read for any feminist - or anyone who has a daughter. From witches to foot binding to female genital mutilation - and for everyone who thinks women do it to and/or for themselves - we have NEVER set the bar by which we are judged.
October 6, 2017
An unbelievable voyage into the passage of women's energy and natural knowing
January 6, 2018
Very (white) Second Wave (in the worst ways)--transphobic, white supremacist, etc.
But some critiques of civic/imperial Christianity hold up.
But some critiques of civic/imperial Christianity hold up.
February 27, 2020
3.5 - 3.75 stars -
Pros - Daly is someone who takes patriarchy as a problem of primary importance - not just in "women's issues" but in all social relations. I love her view on feminine non-women and find it relevant more than ever today. The sections on foot-binding, widow burning, FGM, etc were by far the most powerful, interesting and accessible for me. I love how Daly criticizes the "Equal Rights" feminist framework. Her argument was that the equality framework serves to distract women from the radical goal of altering or abolishing patriarchy as a whole, directing them instead towards gaining reforms within the existing system. According to Daly, such reforms leave women vulnerable because, though they grant nominal legal equality with men, the larger structures of patriarchy are left intact, and the later repeal of reforms is always possible. She also argued that the "equality" framework de-centers women from feminist thought when it encourages women to assimilate into male-dominated movements or institutions.
Cons - Points taken off for the idiosyncratic, too-cute-by-half idiomatic language, heavily leaning on wordplay. It was repetitive and felt unnecessary and distracting from the (very important) main points. It was a chore to get through. I hated the women's spirituality push (re: Women Who Run With the Wolves) but given her academic background I wasn't surprised by it. This is a heavy hitter, not recommended for novices.
Pros - Daly is someone who takes patriarchy as a problem of primary importance - not just in "women's issues" but in all social relations. I love her view on feminine non-women and find it relevant more than ever today. The sections on foot-binding, widow burning, FGM, etc were by far the most powerful, interesting and accessible for me. I love how Daly criticizes the "Equal Rights" feminist framework. Her argument was that the equality framework serves to distract women from the radical goal of altering or abolishing patriarchy as a whole, directing them instead towards gaining reforms within the existing system. According to Daly, such reforms leave women vulnerable because, though they grant nominal legal equality with men, the larger structures of patriarchy are left intact, and the later repeal of reforms is always possible. She also argued that the "equality" framework de-centers women from feminist thought when it encourages women to assimilate into male-dominated movements or institutions.
Cons - Points taken off for the idiosyncratic, too-cute-by-half idiomatic language, heavily leaning on wordplay. It was repetitive and felt unnecessary and distracting from the (very important) main points. It was a chore to get through. I hated the women's spirituality push (re: Women Who Run With the Wolves) but given her academic background I wasn't surprised by it. This is a heavy hitter, not recommended for novices.
November 23, 2020
I read this immediately upon finishing Daly's 'Beyond God the Father'. It was more difficult and less enjoyable. One difficulty was that she no longer appeared to be addressing me, but only females. My desire is to transcend gender in the sense of approaching an ability to embrace and identify with all possible genderings, not to get into my "maleness" as natively distinct from an antithetical "femaleness". Daly seems to buy into the scheme that there is a real ontological difference and then to celebrate the one while mocking the supposed other. Another difficulty is that she plays with language, substituting gyno-gendered neologisms which are supposed to parallel existing andro-gendered words. I read quickly by habit and it was impossible to do the thinking she was demanding quickly. Consequently, I read in fits and starts, normally for a while, missing a lot of her points, then slowly occasionally in order to ponder what she was trying to do. Finally, I had trouble with her sense of humor. I didn't find it funny.
July 26, 2011
This is a compelling and lyrical book. Daly's Gyn/Ecology exposes the insidious beliefs and "customs" of global patriarchy. Daly dives into explorations of misogynist language (and in doing so, manages to give a wag-of-the-finger to Chomsky--a very cool accomplishment in its own right.) She reveals ingenious and insightful woman-centric ways of living, thinking, and existing in this world.
The weaknesses in Daly's work include a nasty bit of transphobia, an unabashed tendency to speak for "all women," and the treatment of intersectionality (hierarchies of race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, ethnicity, etc...), as non-issues. Addressing these multiple points of oppression could leave the door open for men and other individuals of privilege (Mary Daly herself is a highly educated white woman) to self-consciously acknowledge their privilege, and move forward exposing injustice in all instances.
The weaknesses in Daly's work include a nasty bit of transphobia, an unabashed tendency to speak for "all women," and the treatment of intersectionality (hierarchies of race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, ethnicity, etc...), as non-issues. Addressing these multiple points of oppression could leave the door open for men and other individuals of privilege (Mary Daly herself is a highly educated white woman) to self-consciously acknowledge their privilege, and move forward exposing injustice in all instances.
April 20, 2017
I don't really agree with Daly's politics (her brand of radical feminism is pretty white, middle class, and cis oriented to say the least), but the way she uses language and mythology here is pretty fascinating to read.
Incidentally, her method of finding the positive "back-ground" of terms like crone, hag, trivia, and spinster can also be applied to terms about trans women. Susan Stryker did this in an essay on Frankenstein, in which she reinterpreted the terms "monster" and "creature" which are often used against trans women. You can also do it with the word "bad," which derives from an Old English word for what we might today call trans women. Just an ironic side note.
Incidentally, her method of finding the positive "back-ground" of terms like crone, hag, trivia, and spinster can also be applied to terms about trans women. Susan Stryker did this in an essay on Frankenstein, in which she reinterpreted the terms "monster" and "creature" which are often used against trans women. You can also do it with the word "bad," which derives from an Old English word for what we might today call trans women. Just an ironic side note.
December 16, 2013
Whether you are a feminist or not this book is a must read for Everyone. This book is well written and provides insight as to the role of women around the world in the past how it affects the present and will effect out future; and by our I mean ALL of us - society as a whole.
September 11, 2008
Daly is exceptionally creative. I used some of her methods to sustain my own creative work in my dissertation.
November 22, 2020
Mary Daly was a prophet. Her Gyn/Ecology book is the feminist version of the bible but the true version.
February 4, 2011
Complicated and thought-provoking. I enjoy this book for it's willingness to not play nice; to name misogyny and show the extent of patriarchy. In addition to what others have wisely pointed out (her problematic notions on race and transexualism), I find her theory at time too, well, theoretical. This book certainly has me thinking, and I thank it for that. But, too often I find myself at the end of a chapter wanting her to be more pragmatic. Radical theory is fantastic for starting fantastic new lines of discussion and debate and raising one's consciousness, but radical theory has the tendency to become too obtuse, so wrapped up in ideas and alternative realities and wordplay rather than realistic solutions. This is case for me, as I put down Gyn/Ecology.
October 11, 2011
This book brings a unique perspective to feminist theory. The use of language, invented, and re-punctuated words was interesting, but I had a hard time getting on board with the many sweeping and unsupported generalizations.
February 23, 2021
A transphobic fever dream of hatred.
March 4, 2021
"In the beginning was not the word. In the beginning is the hearing."
A life-changing read, from the radicalizing facts presented, to the innovative style of writing and scholarship.
A life-changing read, from the radicalizing facts presented, to the innovative style of writing and scholarship.
March 8, 2022
Parts of this book were outstanding and well worth reading, particularly the chapters in the Second Passage, which dealt with concrete and brutal examples of the systemic oppression of women by men.
Other parts were just bizarre and tedious and made very little sense. Nearly every page has a panoply of Capitalized Archetypes (that often go unexplained), questionable etymological analyses, gimmicky neologism, and mystical mumbo-jumbo. For instance,
wut.
By and large I felt the most value came from the Second Passage. The First and Third Passages were a slog to get through. I think anyone who is interested in Radical Feminism ought to read this book, because there truly are some unique and powerful ideas to be found in it, but it was a chore to read at times.
Other parts were just bizarre and tedious and made very little sense. Nearly every page has a panoply of Capitalized Archetypes (that often go unexplained), questionable etymological analyses, gimmicky neologism, and mystical mumbo-jumbo. For instance,
The world shell, of course, describes, on the material level, a hard covering of an animal. When applied to describe the protective aura - O-Zone - of the Voyager in the psychic realm the image is only partially accurate. For while the aura of gynergy resembles a shell in the sense that it protects, it does not protect in a static sense, as a encasement. It is not an armor. Rather, it is a kind of psychic force field, which not only protects but also communicates and affects the environment.
wut.
By and large I felt the most value came from the Second Passage. The First and Third Passages were a slog to get through. I think anyone who is interested in Radical Feminism ought to read this book, because there truly are some unique and powerful ideas to be found in it, but it was a chore to read at times.
June 23, 2021
Many of the woman-affirming concepts that still resonate today are outlined in this book, such as mother-goddess, inner goddess, woman voyager . . . etc.
An interesting read. What I found of particular interest is the preface in which Daly describes the resistance and hostility she faced as a woman academic at a time when academia was known for its misogyny. Clearly a prolific and brilliant scholar, Daly was singled out for her feminist politics and her career hindered. Luckily for her she wrote this book in a - look on my works ye mighty and despair- gesture.
I wonder why such contexts are ignored or erased. Radical feminists like Daly didn't just wake up one day and decide to be angry and combative. They were fed up.
An interesting read. What I found of particular interest is the preface in which Daly describes the resistance and hostility she faced as a woman academic at a time when academia was known for its misogyny. Clearly a prolific and brilliant scholar, Daly was singled out for her feminist politics and her career hindered. Luckily for her she wrote this book in a - look on my works ye mighty and despair- gesture.
I wonder why such contexts are ignored or erased. Radical feminists like Daly didn't just wake up one day and decide to be angry and combative. They were fed up.
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