In her new exploration of the impact feminism has had on her life, Jessica Heriot, PhD, explains the concept of the double bind. The double bind, as Heriot learned in 1972, describes women's struggle with two incompatible alternatives. For Heriot, who discovered women's liberation in 1969 and never looked back, it was a term that described a very old and familiar dilemma.
It was her new understanding of the double bind that reminded Heriot of her mother and her own trials. She gained new insight into the troubles of previous generations of women and the changes that might help the next. In this insightful memoir, an exploration of the intersection between psychotherapy and feminism, Heriot documents her own struggles with the double bind. She also shows the incredible feminist legacy that she both honors and contributed to through her work as a therapist.
Heriot also touches upon such crucial issues as body politics, abortion, eating disorders, menstruation, orgasms, incest, aging, and the future of feminist therapy. She encourages readers to never give up the fight for equality and to pass their wisdom along to the next generation of feminists.
About the Author: Jessica Heriot, PhD, is a retired psychotherapist and passionate feminist. She has a doctorate in social work and worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. During her thirty-two years as a psychotherapist, Heriot worked mainly with women. She helped found a feminist counseling center in Baltimore and coedited the book The Uses of Personal Narratives in the Helping Profession: A Teaching Casebook.
Heriot's dissertation on intrafamilial child sex abuse was published in The Journal of Interpersonal Violence. She has also published several poems and short stories.
Heriot currently lives with her husband in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
