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Dorothy Dinnerstein (April 4, 1923 – December 17, 1992) was an American feminist academic and activist, best known for her book The Mermaid and the Minotaur (1976), published in the UK as The Rocking of the Cradle and the Ruling of the World (1987). Using some elements of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, particularly as developed by Melanie Klein, Dinnerstein argued that sexism and aggression are both inevitable consequences of childrearing's being left more or less exclusively to women; the issues intrinsic to a child's engagement with and separation from its mother, Dinnerstein thought, end up being conflated with gender relations. As a solution Dinnerstein proposed that men and women share equally in infant and child care.

Biography
Born in The Bronx, Dinnerstein went to Brooklyn College for her undergraduate degree and earned the Ph.D. in psychology from the New School for Social Research in 1951. A resident of Leonia, New Jersey, she taught at Rutgers–Newark in New Jersey from 1959 until three years before her death in Englewood, New Jersey after an automobile accident. She was survived by a daughter and two step-daughters.

Theories
Her theories were not widely revered at the time they were published (Broughton). Dorothy Dinnerstein was also 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" (DD from Broughton). Biography[edit] Born on April 4th, 1923 in The Bronx, Dinnerstein was raised in a Jewish community with her two parents both being progressive Jews (Cole). Dinnerstein went to Brooklyn College for her undergraduate degree and earned the Ph.D. in psychology from the New School for Social Research in 1951. After graduating from Brooklyn college in 1943, Dinnerstein then started her graduate studies at Swarthmore College earning a PhD in Psychology (Cole). Dinnerstein worked as a research student under the help of Solomon Asch a prominent social psychologist and later recruited Asch and co founded the Institute of Cognitive Studies where she worked at Rutgers University (Cole).A resident of Leonia, New Jersey, she taught at Rutgers–Newark in New Jersey as a professor emeritus of psychology from 1959 until 1989, just three years before her death in Englewood, New Jersey after an automobile accident (Dorothy Dinnerstein). Beyond her work as a professor, Dorothy was well known for her book “The Mermaid and the Minotaur” which became a classic and was later translated into seven languages (Dorothy Dinnerstein). Along with the writing of her book she sparked a major impact in the women’s movement working within the theories of the Freudian mode and made important underlying statements about men having the responsibility to raise children from birth also (Dorothy Dinnerstein). Along with Dinnerstein’s love for teaching and writing she was also had a passion for feminist politics. Dinnerstein was involved in the Seneca Falls Women's Peace Camp and was an active participant (Cole). Before her death in 1992, Dinnerstein was involved in a new project about environmental issues called “Sentience and Survival” which explored the ways in which human cognitive structures interfere with taking appropriate actions (Cole). She was survived by a daughter and two step-daughters.[3] Theories and Contributions In The Mermaid and the Minotaur, Dinnerstein takes a multidisciplinary approach to analyzing the ways in which sexist habits develop out of a society in which childcare is handled chiefly by women. She from the perspective of a micro-sociologist, a feminist, a humanist, an ecologist, and a psychoanalyst (Broughton and Honey). Dinnerstein outlines her theory which recognizes a series of long-term societal consequences that result from women being the sole childcare providers: 1. Women are infantilized and degraded as a result of false perceptions that they are associated with the realm of childhood as opposed to the world of adulthood (Bynum). 2. Women become the scapegoats of adult resentment towards authority figures because they they served as controlling authority figures during childhood (Bynum). 3. Women are blamed for life’s pitfalls because of the early-childhood perception that mom takes care of everything, so if something is wrong, it’s mom’s fault for not making it all right. (Prozan) 4. Men must use sexism and patriarchal means to control resented-authority figures (women) (Bynum). 5. Men are isolated from the world of emotions and interpersonal relations usually associated with childhood, creating an impossible and harmful standard of male infallibility, invincibility, and invulnerability (Bynum). Dinnerstein sums up by saying that while she recognizes that families are already moving toward shared parenting for reasons unrelated to the aforementioned consequences of female-dominated childcare, she wants the increase in shared parenting to be “fortified by full awareness of these considerations. This effort of theirs, moreover, is supported by all the forms of action now being taken toward equity in the economic, political, legal, etc., spheres.” (DD M&M).

General references

 * Broughton, J., & Honey, M. (1988). Gender arrangements and nuclear threat: A discussion with Dorothy Dinnerstein. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 8(2), 27-40.
 * Bynum, G. L. (2011). The Critical Humanisms of Dorothy Dinnerstein and Immanuel Kant Employed for Responding to Gender Bias: A Study, and an Exercise, in Radical Critique. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 30(4), 385-402.
 * Cole, Alyson. "Dorothy Dinnerstein." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on March 22, 2016) 
 * Dinnerstein, D. (2010). The mermaid and the minotaur. Other Press, LLC. Prozan, C. K. (1992). Feminist psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Jason Aronson. "Dorothy Dinnerstein - Biography" Great Authors of World Literature, Critical Edition Ed.
 * Frank Northern Magill. eNotes.com, Inc. 1997 eNotes.com 22 Mar, 2016 <http://www.enotes.com/topics/dorothy-dinnerstein#biography-biography Dorothy Dinnerstein; Feminist Writer Was 69. (1992). Retrieved March 22, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/19/obituaries/dorothy-dinnerstein-feminist-writer-was-69.html
 * George, M. (2012, October 15). Profile. Retrieved March 22, 2016, from http://www.feministvoices.com/dorothy-dinnerstein/

External links and further reading

 * Questia Online Library article "Dorothy Dinnerstein." (subscription req'd to read entire content)
 * Review of The Mermaid And The Minotaur by Vivian Gornick in The New York Times Book Review November 14, 1976 (subscriber paywall)