What Do Women Want [Paperback]

Luise Eichenbaum (Author), Susie Orbach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1987

This collection of compelling portraits and case histories examines the factors that govern what women want in life. Included are sections on achieving independence, the mother-daughter conflict, fear of intimacy, pregnancy, and the importance of female friendships.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Luise Eichenbaum is a founder of the Women's Therapy Center in Manhattan, and lives in New York City.

Susie Orbach, the author of Fat is a Feminist Issue, lives in London. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (February 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425099121
• ISBN-13: 978-0425099124
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,182,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental Ways To See That We Want The Same Thing, January 6, 2003

By 

Carmen Matthews "The Serene Samurai" (San Diego, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Do Women Want (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book, written for both men and women to read. It succinctly puts into words ideas that many women continue to struggle with about their identity. It also points out that many men haven't a clue of the fundamental psyche of women.

I believe that in reading this book, many readers will truly realize how powerful women can be, and how much better our relationships with men will be, because this book explodes dependency myths.

My favorite passages in this book are:

"Women help perpetuate the myth of the strong man, for if there is a strong man a woman can imagine that she is safe, that she is being cared for and looked after."

"Because women unconsciously do not expect satisfactory emotional nurturance and understanding from their partners, men's inadequacy in giving this nurturance is to some extent accepted and even anticipate by women."

"When women do express their needs, it often comes out as a criticism. When a woman experiences disappointments as a result of the emotional attention and care she so desperately wants, there is a buildup of emotional upset, because while she may expect that she won't get it, she still feels such great need. The woman may declare that she doesn't feel happy in the relationship, that he doesn't give enough emotionally, and so on. He wants her to be more specific, because he doesn't know what she's talking about. He responds to the criticism with anger, which frightens her. She finds it hard to be more specific. She wonders why he doesn't know what she means."

"The psychological fit is that the woman feels her needs are too great, and so the defenses that the man has constructed against his own feelings of inadequacy in the arena of emotional nurturance, seem necessary because of what appears to be the woman's insatiability."

"Men look to sex as a way to affirm their identity as well as a means to contact. Women often trade sex as though it were a commodity in their search for security, warmth, affection, love, and economic protection."

"She told him he didn't need to have answers or interpretations, but that she would appreciate a hug and some questions. She'd like him to try and get into her shoes just for a minute to see what she was feeling and then step out of them and relate to her with tenderness and understanding."

When you, male or female, really pay close attention to each of the above quotes, and think about your experiences, you are free to get what you are really looking for in your relationship.