Tag Archives: feminist politics

The Lot of Women

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Abigail

A line comes to mind that I first heard spoken in the alabaster French of the Comédie-Française, many years ago in the Paris of my youth: Do you not pity the lot of women? Le sort des femmes … the … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic feminism, academic merit, academic retaliation, ambivalence of feminists, Andrea Dworkin’s Heartbreak, believing the woman, Bill Clinton, Catharine A. MacKinnon, Catherine Chalier, Clinton accused of rape, Comédie-Française, distinctions can get blurry, Emmanuel Levinas, faculty feminist group, feminism and changes in the law, feminism in academe, feminist bloc, feminist distinctions can get blurry, feminist friends, feminist hypocrisy, feminist idealism, feminist politics, feminist real life, feminists betraying women, fired for voting wrong, firing not merit-based, French feminists, Gertrude Ezorsky, in-house academic politics, independent investigation, Juanita Broaddrick, le sort des femmes, marital rape, merit-based firing, NY Times letter, Parisian feminists, Philosophy Department of City University’s Brooklyn College, Phyllis Chesler, political loyalty and feminism, political reprisals in academe, politics of feminism, rape and feminism, rape in marriage, sexual harassment, the destiny of women, the lot of women, victims of feminism, victims of sexism, wife battering, women controlling women, women in academia, women’s bloc | 2 Comments

The Lot of Women

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Abigail

When Your Enemy Is Another Woman

Posted on November 18, 2025 by Abigail

“Sisterhood is powerful.” Well, often it is, but that power is not always protective. After all, in Genesis, the first Book of the Hebrew Bible, the first recorded relation between siblings is that of murderer (Cain) to murderee (Abel). Despite … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Aaron and the Golden Calf, Aaron in Exodus 32, Aaron’s betrayal, Aaron’s brand of leadership, Aaron’s leadership in Exodus, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s Feminism Without Contradictions, academic feminist, academic job struggle, academic politics, academic protocol, anti-chivalry, battle of the sexes, bearing false witness, betraying one’s trust, Betty Friedan, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, breaking protocol, Brooklyn College, church solvency, defamation, defamatory gossip, devoted husband, dinner to honor feminist, equality of the sexes, erotic competition, false accusations, falsely accusing, famous feminist, female power, feminism and celebrity, feminism and marriage, feminism founding mother, feminist battle scars, feminist career, feminist friend, feminist leader, feminist politics, feminist power struggles, feminist reputation, feminist teamwork, feminist wounds, fight for academic tenure, forgive and forget, Golden Calf, guest of honor, heroines, honor among feminists, honoring a friend, honoring women, house of worship, husband of feminist, iconoclastic stance, ingratitude, insolvent seminaries, invited speaker, invited temple speaker, keeping the books, male/female asymmetries, manipulative and vulgar speaker, overcoming resentment, philosophic feminism, philosophical career, reform and reparation, reformed Judaism, refusing idol worship, repairing academic rifts, repairing collegial relations, repairing misdeeds, sisterhood is powerful, solvency and seminaries, solvency in organized religion, supporting congregants, Synagogue finances, synagogue solvency, teamwork in a common effort, tenure fight, the feminist movement, The Second Wave Feminism, Top of the Sixes Restaurant, unprofessional behavior, violating protocol, women against women, women colleagues, women consoling women, women damaging women, women enemies, women heroes, women insulting women, women undermining women, women’s history, women’s solidarity, worshipping idols | 2 Comments

Micro-Metaphysics

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Abigail

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Adam and Eve, Aristotle's Metaphysics, astrophysics, beyond physics, Big Answers, boundaries of ordinary life, boundaries of sensibility, cafe conversation, cause of causes, causes and freedom, conversational map, conversational tact, cosmogony, current feminist theories, deciphering women, decoding men, desire to know, desires forfeited, determinism and free will, ejsy ep, evil and women, facts and values, feminist abstractions, feminist politics, figuring out women and men, friends’ undiscussed topics, knowing what we need to know, life-terrain, logos of the cosmos, mapping the personal world, mapping women’s landscapes, men’s fears regrets hopes, meta ta physika, metaphysics of daily life, micro-metaphysics, mind and matter, new scientific frontier, personal landmarks, personal world, secret springs of action, secrets of daily life, sources of morality, tactful silence, The Big Bang, the big picture, the Little Picture, the real story, ultimate explanation, what women don't say, what women don’t disclose, women and men, women friends, women's conversational disclosures, women’s fears regrets hopes, women’s reunions, women’s undiscussed topics, World of Desire, zones of silence | Leave a comment

“How I Got to be a Person Whose Whole Life is Lived in Cliches”

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Abigail

“How I Got to be a Person Whose Whole Life is Lived in Cliches” The Rabbis inveigh against gossip. Since a lost reputation is almost as hard to recover as a lost life, they deem it equivalent to a capital … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, childhood, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, motherhood, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "the evil tongue", a great lady, academic firing, academic hearings, academic reinstatement, ancient customs, Aristotle's Laws of Thought, Aristotle's Metaphysics, Barbara Seaman's Free and Female, Barbara Seaman's The Doctors’ Case Against the Pill, betting on horse race, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, cocktails in the clouds, covering womens' hair, editor at Dutton, Famous feminists, feminist allies, feminist ambiguities, feminist data, feminist heaven, feminist politics, founding mothers, glittering birthday party, gossip, Hans Jonas's Memoirs, horse racing, Identity and Excluded Middle, influential figures, Jewish high holidays, late guest, Law of Contradiction, leading feminist, Leo Strauss, life in cliches, literary gossip, lost reputation, Loyalty, malicious tale bearing, moral ambiguities, New York restaurants, novelistic lives, novels and life, opinion shapers, orthodox Bar Mitzvah, orthodox hair covering, Peggy Brooks, philosophical gossip, philosophical journals, philosophy and religion, projection, public intellectuals, rabbinical prohibitions, rabbinical rulings, rabbis, second wave feminism, segregation of women, standing by friends, stereotyping, story-like lives, supporting the cause, supportive husband, synagogue, The Monist, the narrative view, Top of the Sixes, unexamined assumptions, welcoming the stranger, women in the balcony | 1 Comment

“The Politics of Ideas”

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Abigail

“The Politics of Ideas” They say you are what you eat, but it’s been my experience that you are what you believe. People live and die for the ideas they believe to be true. What is more, people dress, work … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 586 B.C., ancient history, anger, anomaly, anti-semitism, aporia, apostles, Apostles Peter and James, archaeology, arguing to find the truth, arguing to win, argument, belief systems, beliefs, Brooklyn College, Christendom, Christian Fathers, Christian Jewish rapportchement, Christians, circumcision, competition for converts, counter-example, country gospel, damnation, destruction of The Temple, dialectic, diversity, Early Christianity, elites, Ethics, evangelical Christians, evil inclination, Feminism, feminist politics, feminist slogans, First Temple, freedom, Gentiles, good inclination, History, ideas, ideology, Institutional Power, institutional practice, integrity, inter-religious dialogue, Jesus, Jewish antiquity, Jewish authorities, Jews, John G. Gager's "Who Made Early Christianity: The Jewish Lives of the Apostle Paul", Judaica, Judaism, liberation, life of ideas, Mind Control, missionary, models, morals, mores, multi-culturalism, New Yorkers, opinion shapers, original sin, paradigms, personal conduct, philosophy professor, Plato, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton University, principles, refutation, religious politics, resentment, salvation, search for truth, shared assumptions, sinners, social boundries, social conduct, social construct, social control, social penalties, social practice, Socrates, Socratic dialogues, sophisticates, steles, supersessionism, synagogue donors, synagogue membership, synagogues in the ancient world, The Book of Acts, The Covenant, The Crucifixion, the Law, The Passion of Christ, the rift between Christians and Jews, the Righteous Gentile, theology, thought police, thought world, tragic history, truth, world views, wrongheadedness, You are what you believe, You are what you eat | 5 Comments

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