Behind the Mask: Destruction and Creativity in Womens Aggression (Paperback)

by Dana Crowley Jack (Author) "Lyn (age 39, white, student) ended her seventeen-year marriage to a physician a year ago..." (more)
Key Phrases: positive aggression, masking aggression, good femininity, African American, Native American, Mexican American (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Drawing from 60 interviews with women from a wide range of social and educational backgrounds, Dana Crowley Jack traces a variety of expressions of aggression, from simple "assertiveness" at work or home to the free pursuit of a woman's own dreams to unprovoked physical violence against others. In her introduction, she explains the "six ways of listening" that she tried to employ while speaking with her subjects and interpreting their responses: "open listening (the body's responses and other nonverbal signals are taken into account as part of reflexivity), focused awareness (meanings are not taken for granted; the speaker is asked to explain key words or phrases), and attending to moral language, to inner dialogues, to the logic of the narrative, and to meta-statements, those places in interviews where people spontaneously reflect on something they just said." These sound like rules for intelligent reading of any text, and Jack goes on to demonstrate the rewards of her receptive attitude in the fascinating disclosures made by her subjects. For example, Jean (age 46, white, potter) recounts a dream in which painful and obstructive "bony structures growing out of [her] jaw" suggest her fears of lashing out verbally, while Gloria (age 34, Latina, unemployed) recalls being beaten to the cement for spreading malicious rumors. "Behind the Mask" is a sensitive and skillfully conducted psychological study with far-reaching social implications. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
Jack (Silencing the Self) explores the meaning, sources, and content of women's anger and aggression through data provided by 60 women. This study challenges traditional views of aggression as a simple destructive impulse or a personal trait that is predominantly male. For women, Jack finds, aggression arises out of a need or desire to establish intimate connections with others. She deftly combines a feminist power perspective with psychological insights to explain a wide variety of societal problems like sexual harassment, eating disorders, depression, difficulties for women in traditional male occupations, and domestic violence. The book concludes with stories of valiant women who transformed their lives through positive forms of aggression after being exposed to abuse and violence. Though the sample size is small, this original, extensively referenced analysis broadens our understanding of aggression and is suited to academic collections in women's studies and psychology. It would also be useful to professionals who treat abused and battered women.AAntoinette Brinkman, Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (March 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674005376
• ISBN-13: 978-0674005372
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,033,153 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring Anger/Aggression, January 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Behind the Mask: Destruction and Creativity in Womens Aggression (Hardcover)

Finally, someone brave enough to unleash the bounds of women's anger and aggression. If you are a woman, you must read this book as it will uncover why you often internalize your anger and will offer you glimpses of others who do the same as well as others who operate outside of that norm. You will recognize yourself in the pages and realize you are not alone. You will also find hope in how to channel this natural and valid emotion into positive outlets, something we all need to learn but usually are not taught. This book validates women's experiences and sheds light and hope for women's growth. Dana Crowley Jack is a goddess.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book changed my life., November 21, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Behind the Mask: Destruction and Creativity in Womens Aggression (Hardcover)

I love this book. Jack's sensitivity is incredible; she explores feelings that I've never seen written on the page and it has helped me to better understand myself. I see myself in every page and bravo for her courage to write it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is unique and important., February 7, 2000

By	Kathryn L. Jarrett, MA (Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Behind the Mask: Destruction and Creativity in Womens Aggression (Hardcover)

Dana Jack's BEHIND THE MASK remains extremely valuable for me personally and professionally. I am in my second reading and have already loaned it out twice. Women's voices tell their experience, thoughts and feelings surrounding aggression, anger, repression, creativity, power and lack of power. I recognized myself and was deeply touched as I heard my own conflicts and victories descibed. Professionally, I work with addicted women in a county jail. My own increased understanding and self-acceptance created an improved environment where the women I work with feel safe discussing their conflicts with being a "nice" "good" women while also being powerful, creative and, sometimes, violent. I cannot overstate the subtle power of this form of research. Ms. Jack gives women a voice and with great sensitivity brings the reader's attention to common themes. Western culture gives women extremely destructive messages about their power. We are punished for powerful expressions of self, whether expressed destructively, in self-defense or in acts of creation. BEHIND THE MASK brings IMPORTANT, NEW, HEALING insight to our lives as women.