Dorothy Dinnerstein (April 4, 1923 – December 17, 1992) was an American feminist academic and activist, best known for her book The Mermaid and the Minotaur (1976), published in the UK as The Rocking of the Cradle and the Ruling of the World (1987). Using some elements of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, particularly as developed by Melanie Klein, Dinnerstein argued that sexism and aggression are both inevitable consequences of childrearing's being left more or less exclusively to women;[1] the issues intrinsic to a child's engagement with and separation from its mother, Dinnerstein thought, end up being conflated with gender relations. As a solution Dinnerstein proposed that men and women share equally in infant and child care.[2]
[edit] Biography
Born in The Bronx, Dinnerstein went to Brooklyn College, CUNY for her undergraduate degree and earned the Ph.D. in psychology from the New School for Social Research in 1951. She taught at Rutgers–Newark in New Jersey from 1959 until 3 years before her death in an automobile accident. She was survived by a daughter and two step-daughters.[3]
[edit] Bibliography
- The Mermaid and the Minotaur: Sexual Arrangements and Human Malaise Open Press, 1999. ISBN 1892746255
- With introduction by Vivien Bar, The Rocking of the Cradle and the Ruling of the World, Women's Press (1987), trade paperback, 288 pages, ISBN 0-7043-4027-5
[edit] External links and further reading
| Persondata |
| Name |
Dinnerstein, Dorothy |
| Alternative names |
|
| Short description |
|
| Date of birth |
April 4, 1923 |
| Place of birth |
|
| Date of death |
December 17, 1992 |
| Place of death |
|
