Dorothy Dinnerstein

Dorothy Dinnerstein (April 4, 1923 – December 17, 1992) was an American academic and feminist activist, best known for her 1976 book The Mermaid and the Minotaur. Drawing from elements of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, particularly as developed by Melanie Klein, Dinnerstein argued that sexism and aggression were both inevitable consequences of child rearing being left exclusively to women. As a solution, Dinnerstein proposed that men and women equally share infant and child care responsibilities. Her theories were not widely accepted at the time they were published. Dorothy Dinnerstein was a feminist, expressing her position by stating that “it's easier for women than for men to see what's wrong with the world that men have run". Unfortunately, Nathan's architectural engineer business did not survive the depression. He found a job keeping the books at Mott Haven Salvage, owned by his brother-in-law Benjamin Moed, until his death at 49.

After completing grade school in The Bronx, Dinnerstein attended Brooklyn College and received her undergraduate degree in 1943, earning a bachelor's in Psychology.

Dinnerstein started her graduate studies at Swarthmore College,

Activism and career

After earning her degree, Dinnerstein was engaged in fighting for progressive causes including women's rights, environmentalism, an end to the Vietnam war, and against nuclear proliferation. As part of her passion about these issues, she participated in a demonstration that briefly shutdown Wall Street. Women become the scapegoats of adult resentment towards authority figures because they served as controlling authority figures during childhood. Men use sexism and patriarchal means to control resented authority figures (women).