27 Naomi Weisstein

General Biography

“I am a feminist because I have seen my life and the lives of women I know harassed, dismissed, damaged, destroyed. I am a feminist because without others I can do little to stop the outrage. Without a political and social movement of which I am a part – without feminism – my determination and persistence, my clever retorts, my hours of patient explanation, my years of exhortation amount to little” (Weisstein, 1977, p. 250).

Naomi Weisstein was born October 16, 1939, in New York City (Ball et al., 2016). When Weisstein was younger, she was inspired after reading the book Microbe Hunters written by Paul de Kruif. This book drew her in because it romanticized medical history and sparked her liking for biology (Chernin, 1988). She was also inspired by her mother to be a feminist. Weisstein focused her work in social psychology and cognitive neuroscience. She was a well-known feminist advocate who used comedy and rock music to spread her views. Weisstein was actively involved in founding the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union due to her feminist views (Chernin, 1988).

Weisstein attended a total of four universities. In 1961, she graduated from Wellesley College and in 1964 received a PhD from Harvard University (Austin, 2013). She was forced to complete her laboratory work at Yale University since Harvard would not let her use their equipment because they claimed men needed the equipment more and a woman would just end up breaking it. While at Yale, Weisstein ran experiments on parallel brain processing and eventually met her husband, Jesse Lemisch. Weisstein was granted her PhD in 1964 and went to the University of Chicago to complete a post-doctoral fellowship with the Committee of Mathematical Biology. She later spent her time teaching at the State University of New York, Loyola University, and the University of Chicago until 1983 (Feminist Studies, 2015).

The American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Psychological Society were proud to call Weisstein a member. In 1968, she published her classic article “Psychology Constructs the Female” (Austin, 2013), which was the work that set her apart in psychology. It has been cited as a defining moment in second-wave feminism, and several psychologists have remembered the piece as the beginning of their feminist awakening (Ball et al., 2016). In 1983, Weisstein became bedridden after fighting ovarian cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome. She died on March 26, 2015. As a feminist historical figure, she has helped inspire a generation of radical feminists in psychology (Austin, 2013).

Important Achievements

Weisstein’s career was full of achievements, both traditional and nontraditional, and all display her importance in the field of psychology. She conducted research in cognitive psychology, mathematical biology, and clinical psychology, but she ultimately paved the way for the field of visual neuroscience. Weisstein contributed to the study of visual perception and processing, as seen in her “Neural Symbolic Activity” (1970) paper. This research looked at how different populations of neurons responded to features of a stimulus that was partially blocked from view (Weisstein, 1970). In 1968, Weisstein published her article “Kirche, Kuche, Kinder as Scientific Law: Psychology Constructs the Female.” In this writing, she exposed the male dominated field of psychology and its failures. Her title “Kirche, Kuche, Kinder” was German for “children, kitchen, church.” Weisstein criticized her male colleague’s cultural stereotypes and social norms for women and their lack of faith that women could have an identity outside of conformity. Weisstein’s writing gave insight into the sexist field of psychology and is even now a classic and an exemplary article (Austin, 2013).

In 1967, Weisstein co-founded the Westside Group in Chicago with her friends and colleagues. The Chicago Westside Group was one of the first women’s liberation groups and it was a place for conversation, creativity, and action. The group met at Jo Freeman’s house (a political scientist and fellow activist) and held deeper discussions about the future of feminism. In 1969, Weisstein joined and helped found the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU). She played a large part in this socialist feminist union as the CWLU had significant impact in the 1970’s. The CWLU advocated and created action in women’s studies, women’s health (including abortion rights), sex discrimination, and even racial discrimination. After many achievements in the field of psychology, Weisstein took a creative approach to her feminism by launching the Chicago Women’s Liberation Rock Band from 1970-1973.

Naomi Weisstein led a life full of both academic and personal achievements within the field of psychology and women’s rights; her achievements in research changed psychology and neuroscience. While changing the scientific community, she was also the motivator and activist in the socialist feminist community. Despite the obstacles put in her path, Weisstein published over sixty articles, contributed to neuropsychology as we know it today, and served on two professional boards (Austin, 2013).

Historical Context

The zeitgeist of the 1960’s and 1970’s became known as the second wave of feminism, a period of time in our history where women formed a movement that transitioned from fighting for basic rights such as voting to identifying and advocating for the change of social issues such as the view of women’s roles and differences in opportunities and pay based on gender (National Women’s History Museum, 2020). Prior to the second wave taking hold, a French author advocating for women’s rights published a book that described “the second sex” or women who were assumed to be inferior to men. At the time this was published, Weisstein was 10 years old (National Women’s History Museum, 2020). Growing up in a time where women were pushing the boundaries of the feminist movement undoubtedly influenced Weisstein to overcome the challenges she faced while obtaining an advanced degree and publishing research as a female psychologist. Her advocacy work and research would later contribute to the zeitgeist of feminism in a substantial way.

In addition to the early second wave feminist leaders, Weisstein was influenced by Lenny Bruce, the sharp witted and often caustic comedian challenging conventions and politics as usual of the 1950s (Booth, 2015). Later in her life when she performed stand-up comedy, Weisstein often likened herself to a female version of Lenny Bruce, because in addition to embodying “a passionate disrupter of the existing order,” she was also described by close friends and family as “hysterically funny… [with] biting insights” (Booth, 2015). Weisstein used her creative prowess as a comedian and musician to build a platform upon which people had no choice but to hear what she had to say. She did not tolerate being edged out of spaces because of her gender and she never shied away from creating a disturbance to make her presence and the presence of her female peers known. For instance, during her graduate studies at Harvard University, Weisstein was denied access to the Lamont Library, where women were forbidden because of their distraction to the men using the library. Weisstein responded with “I’ll show you distraction,” and she and her friends held signs and serenaded the scholars with a violin and a clarinet, positioned underneath the windows of the library, making her position very clear (JWA, n.d.).

Although Weisstein undoubtedly influenced the lives of many women who came after her, one woman in particular was heavily influenced by Weisstein’s presence in her life. Heather Booth was a student at the University of Chicago when she met Weisstein, an adjunct professor of neuropsychology at the time. Booth describes her first encounter with Weisstein as electrifying. Never had she met a woman with “such insights, outrageous assessments, and… [willingness] to take bold action for women and a better society” (Booth, 2015). Together, Booth and Weisstein created a liberating voice for women on campus which eventually spread to the larger Chicago area, and then throughout the country, later becoming members of the West Side Group, one of the first women’s liberation groups in the country dedicated to sharing ideas and acting against inequality in the field of psychology (Booth, 2015).

The defining characteristic of Weisstein’s career was her combination of feminist activism with her academic and professional pursuits (Ball, 2016). Her 1968 article “Psychology Constructs the Female” brought to light the failure of men in the field to examine and adjust their views on the nature of women and the roles they should play (McNeill, 2017). In publishing this, she laid the foundation for the feminist movement to infiltrate the field of psychology. A career as a female psychologist during this time period posed many challenges to Weisstein throughout her life, beginning with her father’s disapproval of her pursuing a college education (Austin, 2013). While earning her PhD in Psychology at Harvard University, Weisstein was subjected to a “barrage of gender discrimination…from professors [at Harvard] telling her that ‘women don’t belong in graduate school’ and barring her from using the lab, to sexual harassment, to male colleagues shamelessly attempting to steal her work” (McNeill, 2017). Additionally, the credibility of her own research was often brought into question, and she was stripped of many employment opportunities because of her gender.

During her final moments, Weisstein expressed that “she wanted to be remembered for how she loved science, women’s liberation, Jesse (her husband), and her friends,” while asking her peers and colleagues to carry on “being fierce warriors of justice” and “passionate disruptors” (Booth, 2015). At a time when women, people of color, and people with gay and lesbian sexual orientations were on the front lines fighting for basic and equal rights, Naomi Weisstein used her voice and her academic platform to lay the groundwork for feminism in the field of psychology and as a result, her historical impact is profound.

Historical Impact

In her fight for feminism, Weisstein also founded the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP) in 1968 as a response to the American Psychological Association (APA) refusing to take a stand on the women’s rights movement. The AWP’s members banded together with a mutual frustration of the sexism present in the field of psychology. In 1941, the National Council of Women Psychologists (NCWP) made efforts to advance women’s placement in the field during WWII, being met with three different denials of entry into the APA (Tiefer, 1991). In 1969 during an APA convention, women psychologists came together to discuss the “sexist practices at the convention itself, discrimination in the academic and professional worlds of psychology… [and] the contribution of psychological theory to women’s oppression” (Tiefer, 1991, p. 4). This group led the charge for the inclusion of women in the field of psychology and challenged the APA’s outdated policies that perpetuated the edging out of women in the field. The AWP clearly defined their mission statement as “a non-profit scientific and educational organization of psychologists and others concerned with sex roles in our changing society from an educational, professional, and research viewpoint. AWP is dedicated to maximizing the effectiveness of, and professional opportunities for, women psychologists… and modification of current sex role stereotypes” (Tiefer, 1991, p. 6). As a direct result of this association and their efforts, the APA created Division 35 in 1977 for women in psychology, a monumental contribution to women in the field (AWP, 2023). Division 35 remains a “vibrant and active community of feminist psychologists… [with] over 2,000 members with diverse psychological career interests” (Psychology of Women, 2022).

Although Weisstein was active in the feminist movement, her true passion was neuroscience and her contributions to the Cognitive Revolution, which focused on the brain’s role in forming perceptions (McNeill, 2017). Weisstein’s research showed that the brain played an active rather than a passive role in creating perceptions and making meaning from them. This fundamental idea can be further extended to show that human beings are active participants in forming their view of the world and those around them (McNeill, 2017).

Weisstein’s desire for the upcoming generations was to “…return to an activist, challenging, badass, feminist psychology” (Ball, 2016). In her attempt to pursue a career in psychology while also contributing to the progress of the second wave feminist movement, Weisstein changed the professional landscape of psychology and challenged the beliefs and perceptions that continued to create barriers for women in the field. After years of being a victim to professional mistreatment, sexual harassment, accusations, theft, and gender discrimination, Weisstein became ill and spent many years of her life on bedrest, during which time she continued to manage her lab and publish seventeen additional articles. In a final blow, her death to ovarian cancer came after being repeatedly dismissed by doctors, a historical issue that women continue to struggle with to this day (McNeill, 2017).

In some respects, Weisstein believed that when women were viewed as inferior from the start, there was no amount of resources or resilience available to overcome these barriers (Austin, 2013). Weisstein was a brilliant psychologist who contributed to both neuropsychology and to feminism with the same passion and vigor. She disrupted the outdated perceptions of women’s place in society, and she allowed her research to defend these efforts. She utilized her creative musical talents in addition to her unrelenting wit to vehemently oppose the unequal treatment of women in general, but especially in the field of academia and psychology. She allowed her rage to fuel her efforts to include women in spheres where they were otherwise unwelcome, and she was never afraid to stand up for her values and defend herself and her peers. She brought feminism into the field of psychology and gave a voice to those of us that will come after her while we continue to demand equal rights, respect, and opportunities.

References

Austin, S. (2013). Naomi Weisstein (b. 1939). Society for the Psychology of Women. https://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/about/heritage/naomi-weisstein-biography.

AWP. (2023). AWP Herstory. Association for Women in Psychology. https://www.awpsych.org/awp_herstory.php.

Ball, L. C. (2016). In Memoriam: Naomi Weisstein. American Psychologist. https://ezproxy.library.und.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct =true&db=pdh&AN=2016-00913-010&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Ball, L. J., & Rutherford, A. (2016). Naomi Weisstein (1939–2015). American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039886

Booth, H. (2015). The Life and Work of Naomi Weisstein. Chicago Women’s Liberation Unit: Herstory Project. https://www.cwluherstory.org/text-memoirs-articles/life-and-work-of-naomi-weisstein.

Chernin E. (1988). Paul de Kruif’s microbe hunters and an outraged Ronald Ross. Reviews of Infectious Diseases, 10(3), 661–667. https://doi.org/10.1093/clinids/10.3.661

JWA. (n.d.). Naomi Weisstein. Jewish Women’s Archive. https://jwa.org/feminism/weisstein-naomi.

McNeill, L. (2017). This Feminist Psychologist-Turned-Rock-Star Led a Full Life of Resistance. Smithsonian Magazine.   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/feminist-psychologist-turned-rock-star-led-multifaceted-life-resistance-180962814/.

Naomi Weisstein 1939-2015. (2015). Feminist Studies, 41(2), 483.

National Women’s History Museum. (2020). Feminism: The Second Wave. https://www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/feminism-second-wave.

Society for the Psychology of Women (2022). Membership in the Society for the Psychology of Women. https://www.apadivisions.org/division-35/membership.

Tiefer, L. (1991). A Brief History of the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP). Association for Women in Psychology. https://www.awpsych.org/awp_herstory.php.

Weisstein, N. (1977). “How Can a Little Girl Like You Teach a Great Big Class of Men?” the Chairman said, and other adventures of a woman in science. In S. Ruddick and P. Daniels (Eds.), Working it out (pp. 241-250), New York: Pantheon Books.