Mary Daly

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Western philosophy
20th century philosophy
Name
Mary Daly
Birth 1928
School/tradition Feminist philosophy
Main interests Feminist theology, ontology, metaphysics
Influenced by Paul Tillich, Martin Buber, Thomas Aquinas

Mary Daly (born October 16, 1928 in Schenectady, New York) is a radical feminist philosopher and theologian. She taught at Boston College, a Jesuit-run institution, for 33 years. Daly was forcibly retired from Boston College in 1999, after violating university policy.

Contents

[edit] Education

Before obtaining her two doctorates in sacred theology and philosophy from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, she received her B.A. in English from The College of Saint Rose, her M.A. in English from The Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in religion from St. Mary's College.

[edit] Career

Daly taught classes at Boston College from 1967 to 1999, including courses in theology, feminist ethics, and patriarchy.

Daly was first threatened with dismissal when, following the publication of her first book, The Church and the Second Sex (1968), she was issued a terminal contract. As a result of support from the (then all-male) student body and the general public, however, Daly was ultimately granted tenure.

Daly's refusal to admit male students to some of her classes at Boston College also resulted in disciplinary action. While Daly justified her position on the grounds that their presence inhibited class discussion, Boston College consistently reprimanded Daly, claiming that her actions were in violation of title IX of federal law requiring the College to ensure that no person was excluded from an education program on the basis of sex, and of the University's own non-discrimination policy insisting that all courses be open to both male and female students.

In 1998, a discrimination claim against the college by two male students was backed by the Center for Individual Rights, a conservative advocacy group. Following further reprimand, Daly absented herself from classes rather than admit the male students.[1] Boston college removed her tenure rights, citing a verbal agreement by Daly to retire. She brought suit against the College disputing violation of her tenure rights and claiming she was forced out against her will, but her request for injunction was denied by Middlesex Superior Court, Judge Martha Sosman.[2]

An out-of-court settlement was reached in which Daly agreed that she had retired from her faculty position.[3] However, Daly maintains that Boston College had wronged her students by depriving her of her right to teach freely.[4] She documented her account of the events in the 2006 book Amazon Grace: Recalling the Courage to Sin Big.

Daly recently protested the commencement speech of Condoleezza Rice at Boston College and continues to speak on campuses around the United States as well as internationally.

[edit] Works

Daly has published a number of works, and is perhaps best known for her second book, Beyond God the Father (1973). Beyond God the Father does just that, move beyond God. In fact this is the last book that Daly really considers God a substantive subject. In this novel she lays out her systematic theology, following Tillich’s example.[5] It is often regarded as a foundational work in feminist theology, Beyond God the Father is her attempt to explain and overcome androcentrism in Western religion. It is notable for its playful writing style, and its attempt to rehabilitate "God-talk" for the women's liberation movement by critically building on the writing of existentialist theologians like Paul Tillich and Martin Buber. While the former would increasingly characterize her writing, she soon abandoned the latter.

Another popular work of Daly’s Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism published in 1978. In this book Daly explores the many ways in which men throughout history have sought to oppress women. In this book she moves beyond her previous thoughts on the history of patriarchy to the focus on the actual practices that perpetuate patriarchy, calling it the religion of patriarchy.[6]

Daly’s work Webster’s First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language published in 1987 continued to explore an alternative language she began using in Pure Lust to explain the process of exorcism and ecstasy. In Wickedary Daly provide’s definitions as well as chants that can be used by women to free themselves from patriarchal oppression. She also explores the labels that the patriarchal society places on women to prolong their domination of our male-driven society. Daly claims that is the role of women to unveil the liberatory nature of labels such as “Hag”, “Witch”, and “Lunatic”.[7]


Well-known later works include Pure Lust: Elemental Feminist Philosophy (1984), and Quintessence (1998).

Daly is considered by many to be an inspirational feminist and biophilic philosopher, and her work continues to influence feminism and feminist theology. She is an ethical vegetarian and animal rights activist. Gyn/Ecology, Pure Lust, and Webster's First New Intergalactic Wickedary all endorse anti-vivisection and anti-fur positions. Daly is an advisory board member of Feminists For Animal Rights.

Mary Daly has created her own theological anthropology based around the context of what it means to be a woman. She has created a dualistic thought-praxis that separates the world into the world of false images that create oppression and the world of communion in true being. She labels these two areas foreground and Background respectively. Daly considers the foreground the realm of patriarchy and the Background the realm of the Woman. Daly argues that the Background is under and behind the surface of the false reality of the foreground. The foreground, for Daly, is a distortion of the true being. The foreground is the paternalistic society in which we live. It has no real energy, but suck’s the “life-energy” of women residing in the Background. Daly clarifies that women can be both in the foreground and Background. Daly continues to say that the foreground creates a world of poisons that contaminate natural life. She calls the male-centered world of the foreground necrophilic, hating all living things. In contrast the Background is a place where all things that are alive connect. [8] [9]

[edit] Controversy and criticism

In Gyn/Ecology she popularized the idea that the number of 'witches' killed during the Witch Hunt in early modern Europe added up to nine million people, mostly women. This incredibly high figure (which has since been disproved) allowed her to coin the term "Gynocide" and to draw comparisons with the Holocaust. The number was based on the writings of the 19th century feminist Matilda Joslyn Gage, and has been invalidated by later research. (Estimates based on research range mainly from 60-100,000.[10]) Some neo-pagans and feminists continue to embrace Daly's account.[11]

Also in Gyn/Ecology, Daly asserted her negative view of transsexual people, which she referred to as Frankensteinian. Daly was also the dissertation advisor to Janice Raymond, whose dissertation was published in 1979 as The Transsexual Empire, a controversial work critical of "transsexualism." Transsexual activist Riki Wilchins has accused Daly of being transphobic.

In a personal letter to Daly published after four months without reply, Audre Lorde admitted a fondness for her work but expressed concern over Gyn/Ecology, citing homogenizing tendencies and a refusal to acknowledge the "herstory and myth" of non-white women. [12] The letter, and Daly's decision not to publicly respond, greatly impacted the reception of Daly's work among other feminist theorists, and is seen as a "paradigmatic example of challenges to white feminist theory by feminists of color in the 1980s." [13]

Daly advocates research into parthenogenesis, the growth and development of an embryo or seed without fertilization by a male; She quotes Anne Dellenbaugh's theory "nothing less than the process of a woman creating her Self."[14] Daly uses parthenogenesis to discuss the Christian doctrine of the Virgin Birth. Some interpret this as a search for the means of creating a male-free paradise, and in general consider her a misandrist who practices reverse discrimination and perpetuates sexism.[15]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Daly's Absence Prompts Cancellations
  2. ^ Judge Denies Daly's Bid for Injunction
  3. ^ Mary Daly Ends Suit, Agrees to Retire
  4. ^ Unholy row as feminist lecturer bars men | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited
  5. ^ Riswold, Caryn D."Two Reformers: Martin Luther and Mary Daly as Political Theologians, page 33. Wipf and Stock Publishers: Eugene, OR 2007
  6. ^ Riswold, Caryn D."Two Reformers: Martin Luther and Mary Daly as Political Theologians, page 33. Wipf and Stock Publishers: Eugene, OR 2007
  7. ^ Ruether, Rosemary Radford. "Women and Redemption", page 219. Augsburg Fortress Publishers: Minneapolis, MN 1998
  8. ^ Ruether, Rosemary Radford. "Women and Redemption", page 218. Augsburg Fortress Publishers: Minneapolis, MN 1998
  9. ^ Hoagland, Sarah and Frye, Marilyn. "Feminist Interpretations of Mary Daly", page 60. Augsburg Fortress Publishers: Minneapolis, MN 1998
  10. ^ Brian Levack, The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe (New York, Longman, 1987) gives the figure of 60,000. Anne Lewellyn Barstow, Witchcraze (San Francisco: Harper, 1994) gives 100,000. Other works on the Witch Hunt vary, but between 60-100,000 is the usual range.
  11. ^ see http://shekhinah.net/SeasonalInvocations.htm for an example of just one neo-pagan website that continues to use the figure popularized by Daly. There are many others.
  12. ^ Lorde, Audre. An Open Letter to Mary Daly, page 66-71. Crossing Press: Berkeley. 1984
  13. ^ Katherine, Amber L. "'A Too Early Morning': Audre Lorde's 'An Open Letter to Mary Daly' and Daly's Decision Not to Respond in Kind," Feminist Interpretations of Mary Daly, page 267. University of Pennsylvania State Press: University Park, PA. 2000
  14. ^ Daly, Mary. Pure Lust: Elemental Feminist Philosophy, page 114. Beacon Press: Boston. 1984
  15. ^ Richard John Neuhaus (December, 2006). "Those Uncaring Conservatives". First Things. 

[edit] Bibliography

  • Natural Knowledge of God in the Philosophy of Jacques Maritain. Officium Libri Catholici, 1966. OCLC 2219525
  • The Church and the Second Sex. Harper & Row, 1968. OCLC 1218746
  • Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation. Beacon Press, 1973. ISBN 0807027685
  • Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Beacon Press, 1978. ISBN 0807015105
  • Pure Lust: Elemental Feminist Philosophy. Beacon Press, 1984. ISBN 0807015040
  • Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language, Conjured in Cahoots with Jane Caputi. (with Jane Caputi and Sudie Rakusin). Beacon Press, 1987. ISBN 0807067067
  • Outercourse: The Bedazzling Voyage, Containing Recollections from My Logbook of a Radical Feminist Philosopher. HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. ISBN 0062501941
  • Quintessence... Realizing the Archaic Future: A Radical Elemental Feminist Manifesto. Beacon Press, 1998. ISBN 0807067903
  • Amazon Grace: Re-Calling the Courage to Sin Big. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. ISBN 1403968535

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Daly, Mary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Feminist theologian
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Schenectady, New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH living
PLACE OF DEATH