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Myths of Mighty Women allows the underbelly of femininity and motherhood to come to life. In a partial answer to the question, “What do women want?” Richards and Spira show that women want knowledge, power, respect, and the right to be conflicted about the many roles they have and want. Ambivalence toward all of these roles is both expected and accepted. The book is aptly dedicated to Helen Myers, M.D., an esteemed and formidable psychoanalyst and educator, who was a strong advocate for the Committee on Women and Psychoanalysis of the International Psychoanalytical Association. A number of chapters are based on papers given at a recent conference sponsored by the above group.
Campbell (2008) has provided us with knowledge of the power of the mythic hero. This volume is a welcome and original contribution to the power of the mythic heroine and how therapists can use this knowledge in psychotherapy. The authors glean important points from the stories, providing the therapist with an array of examples and metaphors to use with patients. These mythic women may be viewed as archetypes: parts of them are in each of us—men and women alike.
Although this volume is concerned with empowering women, I still shuddered as I was reminded of the some of the early psychoanalysts who agreed with Freud—that women's “penis envy” was assuaged by the ability to have a child, implying this is the main power and role of women. The myths presented in this volume assert that women do not have to take the roles assigned to them; they can make their own choices.
For example, the earliest myth of a mighty female heroine in written form is that of Inanna, written two thousand years before the Old Testament. Inanna seizes power from her father, after making him drunk; she is proud of her womanhood and praises her own vulva; she chooses a husband and has children with him. However, her husband loses his sexual attraction for her after their children are grown and no longer wants her as a romantic pa