THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Dr. Phyllis Chesler

“Always Speak Truth To Power. Always Have Courage.”

Best-selling author, legendary feminist leader, psychotherapist and activist. Dr. Chesler has lectured and organized political, legal, religious and human rights campaigns in the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, Central Asia and the Far East. Co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology (1969), The National Women’s Health Network (1974) and The International Committee for the Original Women of the Wall (1989). Since 9/11, Dr. Chesler has focused on the rise of anti-Semitism, the demonization of Israel, the nature of terrorism, tribal psychology, and the rights of women, dissidents and gays in the Hindu, Sikh and Islamic world. Dr. Chesler is the author of twenty books including Women and Madness (1972 and revised 2005), Women, Money and Power (1976), About Men (1979), With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979), Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (1986), Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M (1988), Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness (1994), Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health (1995), Letters to a Young Feminist (1997), Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman (2002), Women of the Wall: Claiming Sacred Ground at Judaism’s Holy Site (2002), The New Anti-Semitism. The Current Crisis and What We Must Do About It (2003), The Death of Feminism: What’s Next in the Struggle For Women’s Freedom (2005), Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (25th Anniversary Edition) (2011), An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir (2013), Living History: On the Front Lines for Israel and the Jews: 2003–2015 (2015), Islamic Gender Apartheid. A Veiled War Against Women (2017), A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing (2018), A Politically Incorrect Feminist (2018), Requiem for a Female Serial Killer (2020).

Photo 1. Photograph by Joan L. Roth. Photo 2. At The MacDowell Colony, 1971.