Hi, it's Andrew Klaven. Welcome to this week's interview with Dr. Kerry Gress, the author of

a new book called The End of Woman, how smashing the patriarchy has destroyed us, which is a really

interesting title and a really interesting subject. It's actually an historical view of how we

got from the start of feminism in the romantic era to where we are today. Really interesting.

It starts as I have talked before about how in that revolutionary moment, that moment after

the Industrial Revolution had settled in and as the French Revolution was about to transform

Europe, the role of women came up for discussion and everything was on the table, including

free love in England that ultimately resulted in a much more, I think, productive time, the Victorian

era. Some people hated it. Some people, like me, think it was one of the greatest moments in

European history. I want to talk to Kerry Gress about how we got from there to today. She is a

fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a great group. Again, the book is called The End of

Woman, How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us. Kerry, thank you for coming on.

My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me. First of all, great title. A great subtitle. The idea

that's smashing the patriarchy has destroyed us is not that popular with some feminists, but let's

take it the way you take it. This is an historical book as a historical survey. You begin with Mary

Wilsoncraft, which is where I think this does begin. Are the seeds of the feminism we have today

there at the very beginning? Yeah, I think some of them are. With Mary

Wilsoncraft, I think, as we can discuss further, her son-in-law, she obviously never met

Percy Shelley. She did more to lead his stamp on feminism than she did, but she started the

discussion, certainly with her book of indication of the rights of woman. That really is where we have

this idea. As you know, well of Thomas Payne and trying to move towards a more egalitarian movement.

That's how she's writing about women. She's very critical of any kind of hierarchy. She's

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