Carol Gilligan, Ph.D.
Blogs by Carol Gilligan, Ph.D.
Writing "The Birth of Pleasure"
The reason I wrote that book was because it seemed so counter-intuitive, and then, why are we afraid of pleasure? You know, and we had just been talking about it because it’s—if you’ve experienced pleasure or love, which is what we all start with, and then you experience loss…there’s a line in Birth of Pleasure,… Read more »
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Why Women Find it Diffiicult to Attach to Pleasure
Lisa Firestone: It’s also been my experience when people really feel the most joy or the most loving or close moments that it also brings up, it brings up more anxiety about death and loss— Carol Gilligan: It’s perfect. If I enjoy, like, how will I deal with death. But if I’m not enjoying, like,… Read more »
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Cultural Stereotypes of Men and Women
align=”left” Carol Gilligan: So you know, these descriptions of boys as being not in relationship, or not emotional, I mean, they are as off as the description of girls as being, having no sense of self. And what’s amazing is that people actually repeat this, you know, that, “Women feel and men think.” Well, I… Read more »
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Women’s Adaptation to Living in Our Patriarchal Society
…her daughter said that she was angry at her mother because every time the mother and the father argue, the mother gave in. The daughter is observing this. and she said to the mother, “I’m angry at you for always giving in,” and the mother said, “I felt so humiliated, so ashamed,” because the daughter… Read more »
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Feminism and Patriarchy
Carol Gilligan: That sort of view that feminism is against men it just doesn’t, but from the beginning it never made sense to me. And so, I was asked recently by a group of young women in a young women leadership conference program at Harvard—do I think of myself as a feminist? So I said,… Read more »
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Our Human Capacity for Emotional Honesty
Lisa Firestone: It seems like part of what you’re talking about is honesty. Carol Gilligan: Yes, that’s a good name for it. I mean emotional honesty, intellectual honesty, yes, absolutely, Lisa. That’s exactly right. LF: Because honesty doesn’t necessarily mean saying everything you think every moment but knowing what you think and letting yourself see… Read more »
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A Relationship is a Creative Work: An Interview with Dr. James and Carol Gilligan
A Relationship Is A Creative Work Dr. Carol Gilligan: It’s like, if you do any creative work, you have to be willing to fail because creative work means you’re walking off the edge of a cliff. You don’t know what you’re going to do. And we’re a society that has a very low tolerance of… Read more »
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