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Rating: 
Summary: Passionate, but....
Review: ...nutty. Mary Daly's prose gallops, and is certainly entertaining to read. So are her extreme ideas. The first time I read her, I thought she must be a joke, but she's deadly serious. Her scholarship is peppered with facts and supported by he wide range of reading, but she has seriously distorted history, both by omission and exagerration. Where there do exist excesses in the past, she seems to use them to justify excesses in the present. If her work can be summed up in a word, it is: emasculation. She hates men, masculinity, and any distinctly male passion. Truly bizarre stuff. Fun, but not to be taken seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: Mary Daly Changed my Life too.
Review: Another man Checking in. I first read Mary Daly in 1987. Gyn/Ecology is one of the most important books EVER writen, and Daly is a philosopher of the greatest depth fueled by Elemental Feminist Genius . I HAVE SPOKEN TO MARY DALY. She is the most life loving and wonderful person one can describe. Men have done and continue to do all of the things that she describes in Gyn/Ecology. Please, just read this book, as well as Her other books.I dont intend to write a wonderful review here the last 2 posts already did that. I want to tell men who are reading this = "BROTHERS, ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE, A REAL CHANGE!"
Rating:
Summary: Mary Daly Changed my Life too.
Review: Another man Checking in. I first read Mary Daly in 1987. Gyn/Ecology is one of the most important books EVER writen, and Daly is a philosopher of the greatest depth fueled by Elemental Feminist Genius . I HAVE SPOKEN TO MARY DALY. She is the most life loving and wonderful person one can describe. Men have done and continue to do all of the things that she describes in Gyn/Ecology. Please, just read this book, as well as Her other books.I dont intend to write a wonderful review here the last 2 posts already did that. I want to tell men who are reading this = "BROTHERS, ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE, A REAL CHANGE!"
Rating:
Summary: The radical feminist manifesto
Review: As a man who has met and spoken at length to Mary Daly, I can definitively say that she does not hate men (as this seems to be the topic of discussion in these reviews). Her anger in this book is valid and purposeful. The anger is present to energize people for change. The statement that this book is racist seems incredible to me. The cultural realativist "trump card" of tradition cannot be extended to practices that directly harm people. Condemming genital mutilation and footbinding on the same grounds as the American medical establisment (the grounds that they cripple, kill and disable women) seems less racist than assuming these practices are "primitive" and thereby sacred. Daly is not an imperialist, she speaks for the unification of women (and those men willing) across all superficial borders to break the bonds of patriarchy. This is an angry book, but is enjoyable and, at times astounding, nonetheless. Daly is disgusted by the patriarchal world that has been created by men and with the complicity of women, but you should be too. Things don't seem so bad here in the US (if you are happy with $.75 to the dollar), but the picture overseas is entirely different. Across all cultures (yes even our own) rape and spousal abuse are incredibly prevelant, affecting up to 85% of women in some countries. Feminism is as needed now as it ever was, and the assumption that it only applies to "developed" cultures allows governments to block and qualify international legislation such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. This book is a direct challenge to this cultural realativism.
Rating:
Summary: The radical feminist manifesto
Review: As a man who has met and spoken at length to Mary Daly, I can definitively say that she does not hate men (as this seems to be the topic of discussion in these reviews). Her anger in this book is valid and purposeful. The anger is present to energize people for change. The statement that this book is racist seems incredible to me. The cultural realativist "trump card" of tradition cannot be extended to practices that directly harm people. Condemming genital mutilation and footbinding on the same grounds as the American medical establisment (the grounds that they cripple, kill and disable women) seems less racist than assuming these practices are "primitive" and thereby sacred. Daly is not an imperialist, she speaks for the unification of women (and those men willing) across all superficial borders to break the bonds of patriarchy. This is an angry book, but is enjoyable and, at times astounding, nonetheless. Daly is disgusted by the patriarchal world that has been created by men and with the complicity of women, but you should be too. Things don't seem so bad here in the US (if you are happy with $.75 to the dollar), but the picture overseas is entirely different. Across all cultures (yes even our own) rape and spousal abuse are incredibly prevelant, affecting up to 85% of women in some countries. Feminism is as needed now as it ever was, and the assumption that it only applies to "developed" cultures allows governments to block and qualify international legislation such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. This book is a direct challenge to this cultural realativism.
Rating:
Summary: I would like to give it a 0 rating
Review: Can you "handle the truth?" If so, read this book! Daly uncovers truths about the atrocities committed against women by men. Daly's piece will horrify, enrage, enlighten and empower any woman who is willing to "go there."
Rating:
Summary: I don't hate myself and I admire this book
Review: Goddess, I love this book! Hateful? Racist? I think not. Angry? Unladylike? Absolutely! Mary Daly begins by challenging language which keeps us oppressed as women. It was the work of women that gave a name to the experiences so many of us share, but could not speak at one time: rape, battering, incest. There were no words, once, for what was considered, "a woman's lot in life." These things still happen, but at least now they can be spoken, at least now they can be challenged, at least now there may be hope. The title 'Gyn/Ecology,' according to the Introduction, is a way of wrenching back some wordpower. It is men, after all, who up until now have always had the power of naming, often naming something the opposite of what it really is (i.e. Military Intelligence, Peacekeeper, sanitary napkin). This book is primarily concerned with the mind/spirit/body pollution inflicted through patriarchal myth and language on all levels.The fact that most gynecologists are males, says Daly, is in itself a collosal comment on our society. It is a symptom and example of male control over women and over language, and a clue to the extent of this control. Add to this the fact that self-appointed soul doctors, mind doctors, and body doctors who "specialize" in women are perpetrators of iatrogenic disease (the first time I had ever heard of such a thing, and have since come to specialize in its research). "The courage to be logical -- the courage to name -- would require that we admit to ourselves that males and males only are the originators, planners, controllers, and legitimators of patriarchy. Patriarchy is the homeland of males; it is Father Land; and men are its agents. It is in the interest of men (as men in patriarchy perceive their interest) and in a superficial but Self-destructive way, of many women, to hide this fact, especially from themselves." How anyone can call Dr. Daly racist for dis-covering the historical roots of American Gynecology balanced on the backs of experimentation on black female slaves by J. Marion Sims, "moving spirit" behind the founding of the Women's Hospital in New York, is beyond me. Dr. Daly weaves her understanding of our oppression as women within and around her understanding of Chinese footbinding, Indian Suttee, clitoridectomy, and the witchburnings in the Middle Ages. Violence against women continues to be endemic, systemic, entrenched in our society, and its roots grow deep. Dr. Daly dis-covers and names those roots, and for many, this is a painful exercise that requires the work of thinking, something that is more and more dis-couraged in a society that prefers to do your thinking for you. From the back cover: "Mary Daly is a Revolting Hag who holds doctorates in theology and philosophy from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. An associate professor of theology at Boston College, this Spinster spins and weaves cosmic tapestries in her own time/space. She is the author of 'Beyond God the Father' and 'The Church and the Second Sex.'" Dr. Daly is intelligent, a delight to read, and has earned her stripes. Her willingness to speak truth to power has cost her dearly, and has earned my respect. The violence she is not afraid to name threatens the very existence of life on this planet. If you want to be part of making a difference, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Naming the violence.
Review: Goddess, I love this book! Hateful? Racist? I think not. Angry? Unladylike? Absolutely! Mary Daly begins by challenging language which keeps us oppressed as women. It was the work of women that gave a name to the experiences so many of us share, but could not speak at one time: rape, battering, incest. There were no words, once, for what was considered, "a woman's lot in life." These things still happen, but at least now they can be spoken, at least now they can be challenged, at least now there may be hope. The title 'Gyn/Ecology,' according to the Introduction, is a way of wrenching back some wordpower. It is men, after all, who up until now have always had the power of naming, often naming something the opposite of what it really is (i.e. Military Intelligence, Peacekeeper, sanitary napkin). This book is primarily concerned with the mind/spirit/body pollution inflicted through patriarchal myth and language on all levels. The fact that most gynecologists are males, says Daly, is in itself a collosal comment on our society. It is a symptom and example of male control over women and over language, and a clue to the extent of this control. Add to this the fact that self-appointed soul doctors, mind doctors, and body doctors who "specialize" in women are perpetrators of iatrogenic disease (the first time I had ever heard of such a thing, and have since come to specialize in its research). "The courage to be logical -- the courage to name -- would require that we admit to ourselves that males and males only are the originators, planners, controllers, and legitimators of patriarchy. Patriarchy is the homeland of males; it is Father Land; and men are its agents. It is in the interest of men (as men in patriarchy perceive their interest) and in a superficial but Self-destructive way, of many women, to hide this fact, especially from themselves." How anyone can call Dr. Daly racist for dis-covering the historical roots of American Gynecology balanced on the backs of experimentation on black female slaves by J. Marion Sims, "moving spirit" behind the founding of the Women's Hospital in New York, is beyond me. Dr. Daly weaves her understanding of our oppression as women within and around her understanding of Chinese footbinding, Indian Suttee, clitoridectomy, and the witchburnings in the Middle Ages. Violence against women continues to be endemic, systemic, entrenched in our society, and its roots grow deep. Dr. Daly dis-covers and names those roots, and for many, this is a painful exercise that requires the work of thinking, something that is more and more dis-couraged in a society that prefers to do your thinking for you. From the back cover: "Mary Daly is a Revolting Hag who holds doctorates in theology and philosophy from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. An associate professor of theology at Boston College, this Spinster spins and weaves cosmic tapestries in her own time/space. She is the author of 'Beyond God the Father' and 'The Church and the Second Sex.'" Dr. Daly is intelligent, a delight to read, and has earned her stripes. Her willingness to speak truth to power has cost her dearly, and has earned my respect. The violence she is not afraid to name threatens the very existence of life on this planet. If you want to be part of making a difference, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A VERY Hateful Book
Review: Mary Daly's Gyn/Ecology is an amazingly eloquent, heartfelt, but hateful diatribe against men, and civilization. Her view of history is sadly skewed by whatever psychic wounds she has received that has so distorted her perception of half the world's citizens. That her philosophy is largely a pernicious fantasy is evidenced by her persistent use OF fantasy to make her case--the whole "Atlantis" saga, a world of only women, reproducing by parthenogenically, and so on. Entertaining stuff, but hardly the stuff of credible academics. Then again, her audience tends to be one of disenfranchised radical feminists who are already prone to this kind of thinking, and, in that narrower sense, Daly can fairly be said to have brilliantly hit her mark. By any common, *calm* standard, though, this is a shoddy and malicious piece of dreck.
Rating:
Summary: awesome, a new century, and still life changing
Review: there is so much to be said for this writing. it's a true masterpiece. mary daly is to feminism, as martin luther king jr. is to getting ride of racial prejudice. it will change your your life even in the new century. maybe even more so.
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