Explains the author's background and purpose in writing The Secret History of Weeds: What Women Need to Know About Their History Introduction Shows how the past is linked to the present through connections between the religious, historical and political standards by which women have been categorized. Chapter 1, Almost, But Not Quite Offers a brief historical review of how the reservoir of human experience has fostered the dependency of women on male guidance. Chapter 2, A Greater Voice Illustrates the subtle psychological messages women inherit from the past and continue to receive in the present and how those messages are changing because of women's influence. Chapter 3, Breaking the Stained Glass Ceiling Discloses a pattern of minimizing the role of women by connecting the treatment of Mary Magdalene as a penitent whore in history, the work of revisionist scholars in revealing a more prominent role of women in the early church, and the origins of the no-skirts-in-the-pulpit principle. Chapter 4, Prisoners of Gender Looks at the ways women over centuries and throughout the world have been controlled and managed through religious and secular laws of restriction that are monitored by groups such as the religious police in the Middle East. Chapter 5, The Legacy Examines the historical characterizations of two individual women leaders who are representative examples of the road most traveled by females, the whore versus Madonna path. Chapter 6, Challenging The Seal of Social Approval Traces the mental programming of both genders about the validity, usefulness, and value of the female role in society. Chapter 7, Opening Doors Surveys information about structurally oppressed women who did the unheard of and challenged the unknown. Chapter 8, Right Stuff, Wrong Sex Examines the fundamental discrimination women faced in being accepted as aquanauts and astronauts by both the establishment and the public. Chapter 9, Keep 'Em Barefoot and Pregnant Clarifies the secret history of women in a culture that has limited the public role to males and the private role to females, a past that is unacknowledged yet significantly influential. Chapter 10, Heroines of the Hour Delves into women's potential roles today as captives or free agents, leaders or followers. Chapter 11, Why the Feminine is Sacred Further defines the term sacred feminine, explains how women have thrived and creatively dignified their lives by adapting to a male world, and summarizes the major points in The Secret History of "Weeds." |