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Title: Naomi Weisstein Author: Chris Hobson Date: December 9, 2015 Language: en Topics: obituary, The Utopian Source: Retrieved on 10th August 2021 from http://utopianmag.com/archives/tag-The%20Utopian%20Vol.%2014%20-%202015/naomi-weisstein/ Notes: Published in The Utopian Vol. 14.
Naomi Weisstein—scientist, feminist, irreverent and undeferential
intelligence, and, with her husband Jesse Lemisch, a longtime friend of
The Utopian—died March 26, 2015, after an agonizing struggle with cancer
and a decades-long struggle against disabling illness that never
destroyed her spunk and humor. In this brief note we can only mention
briefly a few of her achievements. (See the links below for more
extensive information.)
As an experimental psychologist, Weisstein’s work focused on the agency
of the brain in forming perceptions. In six major articles published in
the leading journal Science from 1970 to 1982, and others elsewhere,
Naomi made the case for contextual recognition in visual perception—that
recognizing a shape depends not just on the shape itself but also
judging its relation to the forms around it, and that brain structures
previously thought to respond only to simple inputs could perform these
more complex recognitions. This was a paradigm shift in the
understanding of mental cognitive ability.
As feminist theorist, Naomi took apart the anti-woman assumptions of
dominant psychological theories in “Kinder, Küche, Kirche as Scientific
Law: Psychology Constructs the Female” (1968). The title, from the
conservative slogan that translates as “Children, Kitchen, Church,”
glorifying the domestic, subservient female, communicates Weisstein’s
view of both Freudian and behaviorist psychology. The article was
expanded and reprinted a quarter-century later (as “Psychology
Constructs the Female,” Feminism and Psychology, June 1993) and remains
a classic statement of feminist psychological theory.
As feminist activist, Naomi was a founding member of the Chicago Women’s
Liberation Union (1969–1977), a very important group in early radical
feminism.
And as musician and general hell-raiser, Naomi spearheaded the Chicago
Women’s Liberation Rock Band (1970–1973, a chapter of CWLU), one of the
first women’s rock ensembles and an answering voice to the blatant
sexism of much male rock in such raucous and jaunty songs as “Papa Don’t
Lay That Shit on Me” (also the title of the group’s debut album), with
lyrics like “Papa don’t lay that shit on me, you just don’t turn me on.”
There is much more, mainly packed into too brief a time. From 1980
onward, Naomi was permanently sidelined and severely disabled by Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome, which stole her health, vitality, and ability to do
much writing, but never her fighting spirit, her warmth, or her humor.
We salute this guiding spirit.
For more information, see:
Video of Naomi Weisstein Memorial Celebration, New School University
(New York), Sept. 20, 2015:
“Tears and Laughter for Naomi Weisstein,” by Jeremy Varon.
On CWLU: “Our Band of Sisters” by Christine Riddiough.