by Phillis Chesler In my college and graduate school days, we knew absolutely nothing about our feminist foremothers or about their campaigns for equality and freedom. I did not know that women were oppressed and that feminists had battled for women’s rights for many centuries. Earlier ...Read More...

How one courageous proactive journalist took on the IRS over this issue - and won. by Phyllis Chesler After a “long, lonely and expensive seven year struggle,” one that she alone, on behalf of Z STREET bore, Lori Lowenthal Marcus, the founder of Z STREET has just won a significant legal victory ...Read More...

by Phyllis Chesler I am glad so many women are speaking out—and I hope that this leads to some enduring changes; I would be delighted if this moment becomes a movement which leads to legislation that is both funded and enforced. Good faith and hard-won victories such as The Violence Against Women ...Read More...

The Forgotten History of Black Women Crying Out Against Sexual Assault By Phyllis Chesler Last week, Recy Taylor, the victim of a 1944 brutal white-on-black gang-rape in Alabama, died. She was 97 years-old. Taylor was also the subject of a nationwide crusade against the rape of black women ...Read More...

Some of the opponents of Zionism were great figures, but that did not make them prophets. by Phyllis Chesler Some insist that the “new” Anti-Semitism is not all that new—and that anti-Zionism is not necessarily anti-Semitic. In fact, this is the current mantra among pro-BDS and pro-Palestine ...Read More...

It looks as though New Yorkers are becoming as resilient as Israelis in the face of terror. Is terror becoming a fact of life in New York? by Phyllis Chesler On 9/11, I typed, “Now, we are all Israelis.” At the time, what I meant was that Muslim terrorists had come after us in New York ...Read More...

President Trump seized the moment, taking advantage of the new alignments in the Middle East. by Phyllis Chesler I remember when they announced the end of World War Two. The grown-ups all went outside and cheered and cheered on the streets of Borough Park. I was almost five years old and I ...Read More...

Hatred gets a respectable cap and gown by Phyllis Chesler In 1969, I received my doctoral degree from the New School. In those days, few did. The expectations, the standards, were notoriously high. Founded by John Dewey and Thorstein Veblen, The New School hosted an eminent American and ...Read More...

by Phyllis Chesler Golbarg Bashi is in the news for her children’s book “P is for Palestine,” which has been described an anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish screed addressed to children. Believe it or not, Bashi and I go way back. In August of 2013, a publicist was arranging interviews for me ...Read More...

In 1979, while planning an international women’s conference, I was raped by my supervisor by Phyllis Chesler I stand with the hundreds of women who have come forward to name their sexual harassers and rapists. And—”me too.” I have been sexually harassed and propositioned as a teenager, ...Read More...

But the theft and erasure of Sabina Spielrein’s intellectual legacy by the psychoanalytic establishment may be an even more troubling crime by Phyllis Chesler In August 2012, in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, a protest took place critiquing a plaque that memorialized the 27,000 “citizens” who were ...Read More...

Is the respected scholar and spiritual leader an abusive sexual predator? by Phyllis Chesler As an American feminist, I support the incredibly brave Muslim and ex-Muslim women who have just accused Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and a revered Professor ...Read More...

The Sutton Place Synagogue is where my son's family prays and studies. But I have been uneasy for a long time. by Phyllis Chesler Several days ago, the Sutton Place Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was defaced by a swastika. My son and daughter-in-law are members of this congregation. ...Read More...

Why today’s postmodern postcolonial feminism avoids the true front lines of the battle for women’s rights. by Phyllis Chesler I came into my feminist destiny in 1967, both as an academic and as an activist. Our original feminist vision was radical and transformative. We believed in universal ...Read More...