Customer Reviews

Fear and Envy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fear and Envy by Dr. Rita Ransohoff is a most fascinating and illuminating book. It is a transcultural study of men's attitudes toward women, of conflicts and their resolution as incorporated in folklore. Dr. Ransohoff's psychological background, worldwide travels, and appreciation of myths and legends makes this book exceptionally enjoyable reading. I highly recommend it!

An unexpected book. Fear and Envy attempts to explain the need of males to dominate females - a topic of substantial interest in the light of the practice of fundamentalists in several religions to continue to subjugate women. Dr. Ransohoff writes relaxed and literate prose. She laces her exposition with utterly fascinating anectdotes she has collected over years of travel in Asia and Africa. Through these stories she demonstrates the universality of much of the practice of male domination. She also presents information about life as a female in our own and other societies that is simply unknown and unavailable to men. It can't be found anywhere else. She is convincing, while quite charming, in her text, and neatly avoids the dust of academia. It is an engaging and edifying read.

Fear and Envy is a wonderful book. Dr. Ransohoff draws on a wealth of past traditions and practices in every day life today in West Africa, India, the U.S. and elsewhere to describe the many obvious and far more subtle ways in which men have wanted and felt they needed to control women. She writes in a very easy, readable way, using examples from ancient myths to modern movies. And this is not an angry, "anti-man" book. Far from it. In times of uncertainty-like the one we face post September 11-deep-seated needs can re-assert themselves, making this book even more relevant and important for us all.

Dr. Ransohoff has a lot to say about the experience of being a woman in our society, in Asia, and in Africa. In presenting what she has to say simply and without stridence, she makes her considerable knowledge of the global feminine condition accessible to both readers with limited knowledge of her subject as well as to those among us who are well acquainted with it. Her descriptions of how gender roles are played out in the Muslim world are, of course, particularly timely; the chapter entitled "Instrumental Women" is hopeful and inspiring. Professors of Women's Studies would be well-advised to list "Fear & Envy" as an assigned reading selection on their course syllabi.