Mary Daly Passes Away at 81
Radical lesbian feminist icon, Dr. Mary Daly, passed away on Sunday at Wachusett Manor nursing home in Gardner, MA. Boston.com writes, "One of Dr. Daly's caregivers was reading to her from the 'Wickedary' when she died."
The "Wickedary" was one of the many works on the patriarchy, feminist theology and feminist philosophy, which Dr. Daly published. Daly held two doctorates in sacred theology and philosophy from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, a B.A. in English from The College of Saint Rose, an M.A. in English from The Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in religion from St. Mary's College. Daly taught at the Jesuit run Boston College for 33 years. She retired in 1999 after a conflict arose with BC administration when she did not allow men into her classes.
Linda Barufaldi one of Dr. Daly's former graduate students who cared for her said, "It was Mary's wish that if women or people want to memorialize her in any way they should stay in their own locality and have a get-together where they read or discuss her work."
Mary Daly was an only child and is survived by the entire lesbian sisterhood.
Rest in peace.
NPR remembers Mary Daly. listen below:
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Comments [23]
This is all very interesting.
This is all very interesting. I have never heard of her before this blog, and with the issues raised decided to go hunting. After finding links to a few excerpts from her works, it seems she was at once a forward thinker and a terribly backward individual.
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Oops, replied to the wrong
Oops, replied to the wrong thing.
IMHO...
Mary Daly chose wisely her words and actions....each bringing the world dominant Christian patriarchy into question. She will not be revered by all, but all who read her must admit she inspired questions of the deleted role of prominent women in the formation of religion....
Her stance about transgendered was misplaced. I often thought she was questioning her own stance of not thinking of men as men but as those who held back women - a conflict she reminded us of her entire life, but one ultimately unexplainable by her.
I will remember her as a woman who lived her life with the patriarchy and among them stood fast with her belief that women are truly equal.
Twitter Time @kdhales
Lol, wonder what the worker
Lol, wonder what the worker who was reading to her thought of what they were reading.
Ahem
I would like to think that person, who was reading to her, was thinking only about bringing comfort to a dying woman.
Still searching for the right brainy quote.
You may like to think that,
You may like to think that, and you may be right, but it isn't unreasonable to think they may have formed some thought about what they were reading, so I'm wondering what that thought may have been. There's been three times when I was with someone who was dying. You can have a million different thoughts during that time. Hey, we're all human
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I thought about leaving this one alone...
... but I find it hard to sing the praises of someone who was transphobic and racist. Much of her work, and her support of Janice Raymond, had a very negative impact on my life for the entire time I lived in the Boston area. Even those who opposed her brand of feminism were quick to take up her negative assumptions regarding transgender persons. My parents, and other adult authority figures, would use her and Raymond's work to justify tremendous cruelty towards me. I would be forced to live deep in the closet in a world of self-hatred and deep denial for nearly three decades of my life thanks to Daly.
Daly also limited her brand of feminism to white middle-class women, a binary way of thinking that refused to address the experiences of women of color, as well as women living near or in poverty. In refusing to adress the racism, sexism, and homophobia faced by women of color, even when directly challenged by Audre Lordes, Daly did tremendous harm to the feminist movement in general, causing many to back away from the feminist movement for many years.
And, with one statement in one particular interview with What is Enlightenment Magazine (Fall-Winter 1999 Edition), Daly gave the patriarchy, especially in right wing media, the ammunition they wanted...
If life is to survive on this planet, there must be a decontamination of the Earth. I think this will be accompanied by an evolutionary process that will result in a drastic reduction of the population of males.
That statement smacked of replacing one brand of oppression with another just like it, albeit with the gender roles reversed.
I have always believed that true feminism was about ending the oppression of ALL women, including transgender women, women of color, lesbians, etc, not about replacing one form of oppression with another. It's supposed to be about equality, and ending the political, social, economic, physical, and spiritual oppression of women, making us equal with men in every way, in a society where men accept such equality as the norm.
Daly's views on feminism, and their impact on me personally, clearly differ from mine. I apologize to those who may find my position on Daly's views offensive, and for speaking ill of the dead. But I will not apologize for my utter contempt for the hatred and intolerance this individual taught as being key to feminism.
Oh, and don't ever leave
Oh, and don't ever leave stuff like this alone. The lesbians need to be dope-slapped back into reality occasionally, lol.
Not offensive to me
I don't find what you said offensive. Her early work was influential for me, in particular her dissection of the Catholic patriarchy (I grew up Catholic).
Near the end, however, her stances and views made me realize that I had a different perspective than did she, and to consider that sometimes radicals replace one tyranny of thought and action with another.
P.S. I think the fact that Daly and Raymond both grew up Catholic has much to do with their thinking, and not all for the good.
Still searching for the right brainy quote.
Exactly
I grew up in a mixed family, Catholic stepfather and Jewish mother, so I got it from both sides.
And, yeah, most radicals do have a tendency and desire to replace one form of tyranny with another. I'm not sure if that comes from a desire to control others, or just a primitive need for revenge. Both tend to cloud true progress, and overshadow whatever good might have been accomplished had those two factors not been present.
In the end, I guess that's what religion boils down to, the desire to control and dominate others by those who proclaim themselves as the sole authority in all matters. It doesn't matter what the religion is, it seems, all seem to fit the same pattern, the domination of "sinners" by "the saved," with the decisions of who fits into which group decided by who is the most dedicated, read the most willing to use violence and other forms of oppression.
Hence the mess the world is in now, I guess.
Aren't you an ordained minister?
Maybe my memory is failing me, but I have that connected to you in my head. Much as I would love to join you in your generalized anti religious rant, it seems a bit out of place for a holy woman. Do I have you confused with someone else?
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"In the end, I guess that's
"In the end, I guess that's what religion boils down to, the desire to control and dominate others by those who proclaim themselves as the sole authority in all matters."
BINGO!
I hear ya there. A lot of
I hear ya there. A lot of people don't fucking get it. Her influence must be waning though, because I'm from Mass., 33 yrs. old, consider myself fairly informed, and I've never heard of her. Then again, the people I grew up around aren't exactly feminist scholars, lol. How the hell did your parents even know who she was?
Family connections, mostly
My first stepfather was Catholic, and went to BC (as did his father) until my biomother announced she was "late" (she was actually two months late, and had met him one month before). Both homed in on her, as well as John Money, MD and Janice Raymond, because their views on transgender issues matched. Subsequent "liberal thinkers" would also use their theories and apply them ruthlessly to me. I would often overhear them discussing these three at various times.
And for your next questions, yes, I am really that old, and I really do have that good of a memory (I can remember things back to age 6 months, according to my grandparents, and in great detail). The latter is quite the useful survival skill for a child living in an abusive environment.
I wasn't thinking about who's
I wasn't thinking about who's old/not old/etc. Doesn't matter to me
. I just said my age to give a timeframe. Now I'm off to go look up John Money, MD and Janice Raymond, so I can decipher the first part of what you said. Sounds like I should be prepared to be pissed. I basically hate all theories applied to children, lol. As for memory, I find I can remember details from long ago also, but nobody seems to be on the same wavelength, so they have no clue what I'm talking about 
. For example, nobody remembers what color the wall near the large, brown lamp with the off-white shade was in the foster home I was in, or who the dark haired, turtleneck wearing, 70s-looking lady that was holding me was, lol.
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RIP Mary Daly
Mary Daly was an intellectual force and theologian. While I did not always agree with her, she always challenged me to think.
**Edited for correct spelling of her last name.**
Still searching for the right brainy quote.
love it
Who wrote this? Thanks for saying she's "survived by the entire lesbian sisterhood"!!
survived by the entire lesbian sisterhood
"survived by the entire lesbian sisterhood" I loved that line, too Prof C. I need to go re-read Beyond God the Father. I'm pretty sure that was the first overtly feminist book I read.
"When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will." ~ Pollyanna
I admire the women
of this time for their bravery & hard work, but the excluding men thing and the blatent dislike for them did us no favours.
Men have been able to quite successfully use that against us to squash feminist dialog, ever since the 60's/70's revolution.
It's probably the main reason why women today are happy to reap the rewards of feminism (at least in the workplace) , but completely disassociate themselves from the word and the cause. Some women blaming it and even mocking it.
Socially we see the rise of female chauvinism, as many girls/women go to extreme lengths to prove to boys/men that they're not "uptight" or "man hating", exploiting & victimising themselves sexually.
I wonder if Feminism will ever find it's feet again, because outside of lesbian or academic "thinking" circles, straight women don't discuss or ponder this topic.
Now there is a theologeon I think I could get along with.
I would love to sit back and watch a woman like that enlighten the shadowed halls of BC.
Maybe if I'm very lucky I'll bump into her spirt one day.