Monica Sjöö (1938–2005)

The origins of the goddess and rise of patriarchal religions was interesting and I have lots of highlights to revisit. The beginning held my attention more than the later bits about global patriarchy and Capitalism in the 1980s. I’m much more interested in the way, way before than what’s happening in the author’s present day probably because everything she describes happening in the 1980s sounds eerily similar to life today. The second half also felt very repetitive; if I read show more “ontological” one more time I might’ve thrown the book across the room. show less

I have mixed feelings about this book. Sjoo injects her own personal animosity towards masculinity in general.
Calling her a man-hating feminist is not a stretch. She even blames the death of her son (killed by a car) on the "patriarchal technology of the automobile." She even suggests that the black plague was a "psychosomatic" symptom of the patriarchal Church's disdain for the flesh and material world. It's laughable, but her radical man-hating church-hating feminism has influenced the show more politics of the left today to the point where much of what is in this book isn't seen as radical anymore. That makes this book an important read if only for political history's sake. Also , if you can get past the brazen man-hating, this book manages to presents the Goddess and feminine archetypes in religion in a proper light using a lot of anthropology. This book could have been great had it not been so tainted by the author's hatred for all things masculine. show less

Difficult to read, as it felt like the author was writing frantically to get all of their thoughts down before someone took their pen away, but very interesting.

I read this a few years ago and don't remember much about it. A note I made at the time said that some of the 'herstory' was probably a bit suspect but I thought there are some interesting ideas in it.