The Mermaid and the Minotaur
The Classic Work of Feminist Thought
One of the most significant and enduring texts in psychology and gender studies, now with a new introduction by Gloria Steinem.
Since its publication in 1976, Dorothy Dinnerstein’s The Mermaid and the Minotaur has been recognized as one of the most significant contributions to modern feminist thought. The book, translated into at least seven languages, is widely used in women’s studies courses and is an influential text outside academia as well. On a level with Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, it has remained intensely relevant to a wide audience due to its pioneering message of equality. In this work, Dinnerstein challenges the ideology underlying the female monopoly of childcare and demonstrates the importance of men taking a similarly…
Dorothy Dinnerstein was born in a poor Jewish section of the Bronx, New York City, in 1923. As a psychologist, she worked with such well-known names as Kohler, Wertheimer, and Asch. She was a distinguished professor of psychology at Rutgers University for thirty years and lived in New Jersey until her death in a car accident in 1992.
