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Hysterical

Exploding the Myth of Gendered Emotions

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Hysterical

Written by: Pragya Agarwal
Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
Free with 30-day trial

₹199.00 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for ₹670.93

Buy Now for ₹670.93

A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: POPULAR SCIENCE
AN iNEWS BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF 2022
A TELEGRAPH BIG IDEAS BOOK 2022

'Read this book and feel furious, uplifted and galvanised to take its findings out into the world and fight for change' - LAURA BATES

Emotions can be difficult things to define, yet we all recognise them when we feel them or see them in others. How we interpret those emotions and act on them has been heavily gendered, as far back as Ancient Greek and Roman times and – despite the improvements in societal equality – continues to be today.

We’ve all heard the sayings that girls should be ‘sugar and spice and all things nice’, while ‘boys don’t cry’. In Hysterical, Pragya Agarwal dives deep into the history and science that has determined the gendering of emotions to ask whether there is any truth in the notion of innate differences between the male and female experience of emotions. She examines the impact this has on men and women – especially the role it has played in the subjugation of women throughout history – and how a future where emotions are ungendered might look.

 Gender Issues Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences
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Critic Reviews

"In her latest fascinating book, Agarwal investigates the gendering of human emotions . . . The result is an impassioned and highly convincing book"
"Agarwal debunks well-worn myths in this fascinating account of gendered emotions" (The Best Nonfiction Books of 2022)
"Are women really more emotional than men? Pragya Agarwal answer[s] precisely that question in almost all the ways it could be answered. Fun . . . Persuasive"
"Analytical and wide-ranging . . . Agarwal reaches back to the medieval era to show how entrenched gender ideologies are in our society"
"Fascinating and ambitious . . . Will resonate with many"
"Enlightening . . . [Agarwal] makes her point clearly [and] is at her best when relating the impact of gendered emotion on her personal life (something that comes up time and time again as the mother of twin girls), and making insightful pop culture references"
"Any time Dr Pragya Agarwal writes something, I want to read it. Her words illuminate the hidden patterns of bias and therefore injustice that impact us. This book will make you question everything you thought you knew about emotions and make you want to reclaim your emotions as an integral part of your full humanity" (LAYLA F. SAAD, author of Me and White Supremacy)
"A necessary, thought-provoking book that demands we urgently rethink the terms of the debate on gender and emotion" (DR TIFFANY WATT SMITH, author of The Book of Emotions)
"Hugely readable and meticulously researched, Hysterical unpicks the myths, stereotypes and double standards that warp our judgments about the way men and women feel" (MARY ANN SIEGHART)
"Hysterical is absolutely fascinating. Like all of Pragya's work, this book is both robustly researched and deeply moving. In a whistle stop tour, she traces our gendered and misogynistic assumptions about male and female brains back thousands of years. She demonstrates how these stereotypes have been used throughout history both to create and to maintain a power imbalance. This book is brave, unapologetic and at times rightly furious . . . All emotions for which women have been labelled hysterical. Read this book and feel furious, uplifted and galvanised to take its findings out into the world and fight for change" (LAURA BATES, author of Men Who Hate Women)
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