Phyllis Chesler: A Jewish And Feminist Biography
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1 Phyllis Chesler: A Jewish and Feminist Biography 1940-1958: Grew up in an Orthodox home in Borough Park. Was not allowed to have a Bat Mitzva. Took it very hard. But I was already a born rebel. I Joined Hashomer Hatzair in 1948, and Ain Harod in 1950. I attended Machzike Talmud Torah and Marshalliah High School but I also attended public school. 1958: Got a full scholarship to Bard College. 1961: I traveled to Afghanistan and was kept in captivity in a harem in a polygamous household. What I learned there became the basis for my very American feminism. I was already using the word “patriarchal” in my Kabul diaries in 1961-62. 1962 –1969: I was active in the American civil rights movement. I obtained my Ph.D in Psychology. I studied the maternal influence in learning by observation. I published two studies in Science magazine. I also did research on gender preferences involved in choosing a therapist. 1967-1969: I joined NOW and participated in countless demonstrations, marches and consciousness raising groups. I joined a NOW committee which met in Ti-Grace Atkinson’s home. I was at meeting where Kate Millett spoke as NYC President or as the one in charge of NOW’s Education committee in NYC. 1969: I co-founded the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP). This organization is still going strong. I demanded one million dollars in reparations at the national convention of the American Psychological Association for all the harm done to women in the name of “mental illness;” this demand was covered world-wide. I did so as a co-founder of AWP. 1970: I delivered my first major feminist speech in Great Neck, Long Island at a distinguished forum, together with Dr. Barbara Joans. Barbara and I had already been helping women obtain illegal abortions. Dr. Amy Swerdlow, who would found a Women’s History program at Sarah Lawrence, told me that this lecture is what had “converted her to feminism.” I taught the first course for credit in Women’s Studies and pioneered one of the first Women’s Studies programs in the country at the City University of New York, (CUNY) at Richmond College, now the College of Staten Island. I wanted this to be minor, not a major, which I feared would be ghetto-ized. 2 1970: I founded the first-ever feminist salon in NYC together with Vivian Gornick. Leadership was later assumed by Erica Duncan. 1971: I secretly acquired data that led to the class action lawsuit (Melaini et al) on behalf of women at CUNY which took 17 years to win. The lawyer, Judith Vladeck, eventually wanted to open a separate cause of action for only me on the basis of my having been persecuted for my feminist/political beliefs. I advised her not to waste time on this. 1971: My feminist colleagues and my students demanded that I publish Women and Madness anonymously and donate any proceeds to the downtrodden. 1971: I delivered a keynote address at the first-ever feminist conference on Rape In NYC which was organized by New York Radical Feminists. There were several other keynoters, including Florence Rush. It was written up widely and it led to a book edited by Noreen Connell of the Conference Proceedings and it influenced others who came along later and either wrote about or became activists in this area. I was quoted as saying at this conference, “in the matter of rape we should take the weapon away from the offender;” this statement earned me death threats. 1971-1972: I attended and supported the earliest meetings that led to the founding of both Ms. Magazine and Signs, an academic feminist journal. 1971-72: I experienced anti-Semitism, as expressed by Jill Johnston and Kate Millett. This sent me straight to Israel for my first-ever visit. This form of racism was confirmed for me by none other than Rita Mae Brown. 1972: Travelled to Greece with my student, George Sedaris, and his wife. Then I travelled to Israel with Judi Kuppersmith and Eve Leoff. 1972: Gloria Steinem and I published Wonder Woman comic strips. 1972: I published my first book, Women and Madness (Doubleday hardcover, 1972; Avon paperback, 1973). The book became an instant sensation and received the first front page New York Times book review of any feminist work. It was also a bestseller. Kate Stimpson gave me a book party at her loft on the Bowery which was an “event” unto itself. The book went on to sell more than 3 1/2 million copies. I also received thousands of letters from women all over the country who 3 wrote to say that this book changed their lives, they signed themselves out of mental asylums, left terrible marriages, went back to college, sued their rapists, sued their unethical therapists, etc. On and On, the letters came. 1972: New York Magazine published an excerpt of Women and Madness as a cover story titled “The Sensuous Psychiatrist.” The article discussed psychiatrists having sex with their patients. I was sued by a psychiatrist who shared the same name—but a different middle initial--as his psychiatrist father, who was named in the article. The son sued me for $9M; I wanted to take him to lunch to discuss the matter, but the lawyers wouldn’t allow that; in the end, he settled for $1 because he didn’t want more publicity. I learned the lesson that it’s not always wise to listen to your lawyer. 1972: I was in Antigua and quite by chance happened to help and then hide from the authorities a young British man who had harpooned his girlfriend on the beach—presumably while under the influence. I arranged a BOAC flight for him out of the country, essentially saving his life. 1973: I co-organized the first-ever press conference about anti-Semitism among feminists in NYC. Aviva Cantor Zuckoff and Cheryl Moch took the lead on this. I had been concerned about this since the early 1970s and it is precisely what sent me on my first trip to Israel in 1972. 1973: I sued the Hearst Corportation regarding Avon Books’ publishing the