About the Book

Dorothy Littell Greco's For the Love of Women exposes how misogyny corrupts our society--from medical, governmental, and religious institutions to our workplaces, entertainment, and interpersonal relationships--and provides a pathway to healing and reconciliation.

Book Synopsis

If we hope to fight and eventually heal from misogyny, we must first be able to identify and understand it.

Despite the undeniable progress for women and girls in the 20th and 21st centuries, misogyny is still alive and well in today's culture--often in ways that are more subtle and more insidious than the outright sexism of the past, and in spaces that we overlook or excuse as normative.

Misogyny has shape-shifted through the generations while maintaining a consistent through-line: it blinds individuals and cultures from seeing women as equal image-bearers, fosters hierarchies rather than partnerships, disdains vulnerability, and prevents all of us--women and men alike--from fully thriving.

In For the Love of Women Dorothy Littell Greco draws on in-depth research, interviews, biblical concepts, and vulnerable personal experience to explore how misogyny continues to impact six spheres of contemporary culture:

1. Healthcare
2. Government
3. The workplace
4. Media and entertainment
5. The church
6. Intimate relationships

While recent movements succeeded in raising consciousness and initiating important changes connected to misogynistic practices, alarming trends and rhetoric are on the rise in America today. We still have a lot of work to do--and the battle is more urgent than ever.

Like other deeply rooted, systemic injustices, misogyny is neither morally neutral nor random. It's pernicious and calculated. For the Love of Women is for anyone who wants to educate, inspire, and empower themselves and women collectively to affect real change for everyone's benefit.

Review Quotes

'Dorothy has carefully, clearly, and compassionately helped us understand misogyny--not just 'out there' in the world, but also 'in here' within our churches and organizations. This book is not only a sobering reality check, but it is also a book filled with hope for a way forward on the path of Spirit-filled harmony and unity. Her research is thorough and honest, and her biblical grounding is firm and edifying. I pray male leaders, as well as skeptics and faithful followers of Jesus, will humbly engage her work. We will all be better for it.'-- Quina Aragon, author of Love Has a Story

'For the Love of Women empowers Christian readers who want to clean their house and transform the ravages of misogyny, because they follow a Jesus who values women. Greco deftly traces the throughlines of misogyny through time, demonstrating the history of how misogyny blames women for humanity's problems, harming women (and men) through medicine, sexualized violence, and sexist theology. An intelligent and utterly timely reframe that reclaims faith-based spaces as safe, For the Love of Women offers readers a path forward.'-- Tia Levings, author of NYT Bestseller, A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy

'It takes a woman of courage and conviction to call out a subject that is both difficult yet necessary. I am so proud of Dorothy for doing the hard work that many shy away from. For The Love of Women unearths the deeply rooted systems of injustice toward women that have permeated every stream of society. At the same time, Dorothy gives us healthier ways to plant seeds for our benefit and towards co-flourishing together. Illuminating, thought-provoking, challenging, and healing, this book is a defining work for our time.'-- Dorena Williamson, Bestselling author, Bridgebuilder, and Pastor

'The paramount need for a more Biblical and thoughtfully Christian view on gender can not be overstated. This need emerges not only from neglect, but from a diseased imagination and dysfunctional practices around gender that have become the unfortunate norm in many Christian spaces. Dorothy Greco in this now essential text calls for the dismantling of misogyny while also offering a fresh Biblical imagination for a better way forward. Neither a screed nor a confession, Greco offers irenic words of pastoral grace without sacrificing a necessary prophetic edge--a helpful antidote for a chronic illness of our times.'-- Soong-Chan Rah, Robert Munger Professor of Evangelism and Church Renewal, Fuller Theological Seminary, author of Prophetic Lament

'Despite enormous progress achieved in the 21st Century battle against ongoing, abuse, and injustice against women and girls, this battle will never end until we dismantle it from the roots up. In For the Love of Women, Dorothy Greco exposes the cultural, social, and theological forces that continue to hold women down. Only when we understand the depth of the crisis will we be able to find remedies both globally and in our own cultural context. Dorothy has made a significant contribution to our understanding, and I pray her book will be widely read by women and men alike.'-- Carolyn Custis James, author of Half the Church and Malestrom

'Dorothy Littell Greco's courageous effort is not an easy read. But the need for this book is as urgent as ever. It challenges our presuppositions about how we love and respect women. Littell Greco unpacks how misogyny is a form of interpersonal and systemic cruelty that endangers women's lives and the communal flourishing of us all. For the Love of Women prompts us to walk the hard road toward repentance. Although it's long overdue, we must take up God's deep love and concern for all women and do right by them.'-- Sheila Wise Rowe, author of Healing Racial Trauma, and Nicholas Rowe, Ph.D. Hansen Associate Professor of Leadership at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and co-author with Sheila of Healing Leadership Trauma

'Finally, an accessible book on the depths of misogyny; its pervasiveness in our relationships, workplace, healthcare, government, churches, and entertainment; and the need for allies, advocates, and interrupters! For the Love of Women is a great title because it is truly a book of hope. Dorothy Littell Greco helps us to imagine what is possible. She helps us to name and identify misogyny, reveals the harm, and provides the antidote. I hope it is widely read!'-- Aimee Byrd, author of Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and Saving Face

'For the Love of Women is a prophetic, pastoral, and grace-filled book. If you are a woman, you will see something of your own experiences in these pages. If you know a woman, you will see something of her experiences here. If you love a woman--any woman, including yourself--I urge you to read this book which wisely and lovingly exposes a great wrong that is deeply woven into our whole world (including the church)--and then wisely and lovingly points a way forward.'-- Karen Swallow Prior, author of You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful

'For the Love of Women offers an insightful look at the challenges women face in modern life, uncovering the distortions and biases that we too often accept as normal. Greco's journalistic attention to detail pairs with a deep pastoral sensibility that shepherds readers through these difficult conversations on to the work of envisioning a future of goodness and life--one where women and men flourish together.'-- Hannah Anderson, author of All That's Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment

'This book is undeniably outstanding. In For the Love of Women, Uprooting and Healing Misogyny in America, Greco skillfully and systematically addresses the ways in which misogyny has shackled women (and men), cultivating a culture of death and destruction. Misogyny hurts everyone. This book is well-researched; Greco thoroughly supports her claims. That misogyny exists in all sorts of forms and has ingrained itself into our personal lives, theology, and systems, is irrefutable. Greco is clearly brilliant, brave, and bold to write such a book in a Christian context. In doing so, she is doing her part to uproot and upend misogyny within her spheres of influence. I would go so far as to say that this book is mandatory reading for any thoughtful Christian and Christian leader in the United States and throughout the world.'-- Dr. Marlena Graves, author of Bearing God and The Way Up Is Down