Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism

by Mary Daly, Emily Culpepper (Illustrator)

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.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Womens, Politics, Gender, Religion

540 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Mary 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.

Reviews

[Tony duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[fausto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basically, the BEST book on radical feminism ever written

[Randy Weled · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Eleanor Cowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 : A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer

[Ruger · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Leigh Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spinsters spin all ways, always.

[ONTD Feminism · Rating 3 out of 5]

LJ user recognitions:

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.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

radical feminist theory at its finest

[KP H · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[emma cohler · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Liz Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Heidi Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unbelievable voyage into the passage of women's energy and natural knowing

[Emilie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very (white) Second Wave (in the worst ways)--transphobic, white supremacist, etc.

But some critiques of civic/imperial Christianity hold up.

[Jaclynn (JackieReadsAlot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

A transphobic fever dream of hatred.

[Katie Glanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Pujita · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daly is exceptionally creative. I used some of her methods to sustain my own creative work in my dissertation.

[Crystal Morningstar Kinistino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Daly was a prophet. Her Gyn/Ecology book is the feminist version of the bible but the true version.

[Alexandra Michaelides · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is in my opinion the most important feminist text of all time.

[Rachel Waterhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

"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.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

DALY’S THIRD BOOK, GOING FAR BEYOND HER EARLIER WORKS

Mary Daly (1928-2010) was a radical feminist philosopher and theologian who taught at Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years; she retired in 1999, after a discrimination claim was filed against the college by two male students who claimed to want to be admitted to her advanced Women's Studies courses.

She wrote in the Preface of this 1968 book, “This book voyages beyond ‘Beyond God the Father.’ … [This] involves two things. First, there is the fact that be-ing continues. Be-ing at home on the road means continuing to journey. This book continues to Spin on, in other directions/dimensions. It focuses beyond christianity in Other ways. Second, there is some old semantic baggage to be discarded so that Journeyers will be unemcumbered by malfunctioning (male-functioning) equipment. There are some words… which I cannot use again [that] are God, androgyny, and homosexuality. There is no way to remove male/masculine imagery from ‘God.’ … I now choose to write gynomorphically… because ‘God’ represents the necrophilia of patriarchy, whereas ‘Goddess’ affirms the life-loving be-ing of women and nature… The third treacherous term, ‘homosexuality’ … excludes gynocentric be-ing/Lesbianism.” (Pg. xi)

She continues, “This entire book is asking the question of movement, of Spinning. It is an invitation to the Wild Witch in all women who long to spin. This book is a declaration that it is time to stop putting answers before the Questions… It is a call of the wild to the wild, calling Hags/Spinsters to spin/be beyond the parochial bondings/bindings of any comfortable ‘community.’ It is a call to women who have never named themselves Wild before, and a challenge to those who have been in the struggle for a long time and who have retreated for awhile.” (Pg. xv)

She explains in the Introduction, “This book is about the journey of women becoming, that is, radical feminism. The voyage is described and roughly charted here… The radical be-ing of women is very much an Otherworld Journey. It is both discovery and creation of a world other than patriarchy.” (Pg. 1)

She clarifies, “Since the language and style of patriarchal writing simply cannot contain or carry the energy of women’s exorcism and ecstasy, in this book I invent, dis-cover, re-member. At times I make up words… Often I unmask deceptive words by dividing them and employing alternate meanings for prefixes… I also unmask hidden reversals, often by using less known or ‘obsolete’ meanings (for example, ‘glamour’ as used to name a witch’s power)… When I play with words I do this attentively, deeply, paying attention to etymology and to varied dimensions of meaning… In other cases my choice is a matter of intuitive judgment (for example, my decision not to use ‘herstory’).” (Pg. 24)

She states, “Patriarchy is itself the prevailing religion of the entire planet, and its essential message is necrophilia. All of the so-called religions legitimating patriarchy are mere sects subsumed under its vast umbrella/canopy.” (Pg. 39)

She observes, “This is the ultimately deceptive glorification of femininity, convincing women that it is desirable for men and also desired by them, luring females into forgetting the falseness of femininity, blinding us to the fact that femininity is quintessentially a male attribute.” (Pg. 69)

She reports, “I suggest that theologians have always fantasized a female hanging on the cross. Hannah Tillich, in her lucid autobiography, ‘From Time to Time,’ describes the pornographic exploits of her husband, Paul Tillich… She describes entering his room during his showing of a porn film for his own private entertainment: ‘There was the familiar cross shooting up the wall… A naked girl hung on it, hands tied in front of her private parts… More and more crosses appeared , all with women tied and exposed… some crouched in fetal position, some head down, or legs apart, or legs crossed---and always whips, crosses, whips.’” (Pg. 94) [NOTE: In Hannah Tillich’s book, this is not recounting an ACTUAL experience of entering Tillich’s room, with him watching a porn movie; see pg. 14. He DID have a substantial ‘stash’ of porn books and magazines, however, that was not discovered until after his death.]

She tells of Chinese footbinding: “Chinese males… saw to it that their prisoners were hopelessly crippled. The foot purification (mutilation) ensured that women would be brainwashed as well, since their immobility made them entirely dependent upon males for knowledge of the world outside their houses.. Moreover, since torture and mutilation of a small girl was carried out by her mother and other close female relatives, the lesson of ‘never trust a woman’ was branded upon her soul…” (Pg. 136)

She notes, “Hags see that the demonic rituals in the so-called underdeveloped regions … are deeply connected with atrocities perpetuated against women in ‘advanced’ societies. To allow ourselves to see the connections is to begin to understand that androcracy is the State of Atrocity, where atrocities are normal, ritualized, repeated.” (Pg 155)

Of African Genital Mutilation, she comments, “It is men who demand this female castration, and possession in marriage is required in THEIR society for survival. The apparently ‘active’ role of the women, themselves mutilated, is in fact a passive, instrumental role. It hides the real castrators of women… The fact that ‘women did it… to women’ must be seen in this context… The use of women to do the dirty work can make it appear thinkable only to those who do not wish to see.” (Pg. 163-165)

She points out, “The acceptability of witchburning in Renaissance society is evident in the absence of objections to the massacre in the writings of such prominent … thinkers as Bacon, Grotius, Selden, and Descartes, who ‘flourished’ in the … peak period of the witchcraze… The silence of these pusillanimous men may well have done as much to fuel the… funereal fires as the depraved fanaticism of their more aggressive and vulgar colleagues.” (Pg. 202)

She observes, “the pattern had not changed. Rather, the doctored diseases have spread… The mutilations and mutations masterminded by the modern man-midwives represent an advanced stage in the patriarchal program of gynocide… Unable to create life, they are performing the most potent act possible to them: the manufacture of death… a last attempt by these holy ghosts … to erect a fitting temple/tumor for themselves… a womb-tomb dedicated to the worship of Nothing.” (Pg. 226-227)

She states, “It is obvious to Hags that few gynecologists recommend to their heterosexual patients that most foolproof of solutions, namely Mister-ectomy… The Spinsters who propose this way … can do so with power precisely because we are not preoccupied with ways to get off the hook of the heterosexually defined contraceptive dilemma.” (Pg. 239)

This is perhaps Daly’s most provocative and stimulating book; and will be ‘must reading’ for anyone studying her.