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Here is a comment on Chapter 2 of Beyond God the Father. The whole book is available online by clicking on the hyperlink Beyond God the Father on the mindmap. There you can read Mary Daly for yourself.

The story of Adam and Eve has often been interpreted as a narrative pointing toward Eve’s responsibility for original sin. In fact, according to Mary Daly, “the myth has projected a malignant image of the male-female relationship and of the ‘nature’ of women that is still deeply imbedded in the modern psyche.” That is, this myth has served to perpetuate the institution of patriarchy by labelling women as evil. The myth is so deeply integrated into our society that women too are affected by the belief that they are inherently evil.

Mary Daly argues that the “healing” that needs to take place in the minds of women must take place communally. For when the healing does occur, it will be a healing for men and women alike. Mary Daly goes on to coin women’s involvement in their own oppression the true “original sin” and notes that women’s role has various implications. Among these are “psychological paralysis,” “feminine antifeminism,” “false ‘humility,’” and “emotional dependence.” Next, she outlines four types of institutions which promote sexism. Of these institutions the most interesting to me were those which seek to liberate humans from other oppressive forces such as racism and poverty. Mary Daly notes that these organisations fail to see “sexism as a root and paradigm of the various forms of oppression they seek to eradicate.”

For instance, she claims that equality of the races cannot be achieved until equality of the sexes is won. Do you agree with this? Furthermore, she describes two separate dichotomies created by patriarchy. Not only were women designated to be “the Other” and cast away from men, but women were also divided into good and bad women. It was the bad women who were “burned and tortured” as witches by the church. Was the patriarchal structure of the church actually threatened by these women? If they truly did pose a threat, then surely men were threatening the structure of the church as well. However, “because Jesus was a man,” men were exempt from such accusations of witchcraft. Mary Daly talks about the commonness of psychosurgery during “the second wave of feminism.”