Women & Self-Esteem: 03/12/08

Sometimes books I would normally not read fall into my possession and I feel compelled to read them before I release them through BookCrossing. Women & Self-Esteem: Understanding and Improving the Way We Think and Feel About Ourselves is one of those books.

As the title suggests, this thick volume from 1984 begins with the thesis that poor self-esteem goes hand in hand with being a woman. Men are so favored over women that there is nowhere but down for our egos to go. While I certainly know women (and men) with poor self-esteem, I mostly read this book as an outsider looking in. I have not experienced the put downs and other negativity described in the book.

The book is divided into four sections: Making the Connections; Close To Home, Close to the Heart; Far From Home, Far From at Home; The High Costs of Low Self-Esteem. The first part defines the terms used in the book and states the bleak thesis. Part two looks at how families contribute to the problem. Part three looks at outside forces that contribute to the problem (religion, education, work, entertainment, being in public). The final section looks at how low self-esteem gets in the way of day to day living.

If you are a woman with self-esteem problems or know a woman with these problems, the book might help. Otherwise it's a long winded strange look at one piece of psychology.

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