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Mary Daly

Mary Daly (October 16, 1928 – January 3, 2010) was an American radical feminist philosopher and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at the Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years. Once a practicing Roman Catholic, she had disavowed Christianity by the early 1970s. Daly retired from Boston College in 1999, after violating university policy by refusing to allow male students in her advanced women's studies classes. She allowed male students in her introductory class and privately tutored those who wanted to take advanced classes.

Mary Daly was born in Schenectady, New York, on October 16, 1928. She was an only child. Her mother was a homemaker and her father, a traveling salesman. Daly was raised in a Catholic environment; both her parents were Irish Catholics and Daly attended Catholic schools as a girl. Early in her childhood, Daly had mystical experiences which she later described as her feeling the presence of divinity in nature.

Daly received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the College of Saint Rose in 1950, and a Master of Arts degree in English from the Catholic University of America. She earned a PhD in religion from Saint Mary's College in 1953.

She later earned two additional doctorates in sacred theology and philosophy from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Daly taught classes at Boston College from 1967 to 1999, including courses in theology, feminist ethics, and patriarchy.

Daly was first threatened with dismissal when, following the publication of her first book, The Church and the Second Sex (1968), she was issued a terminal (fixed-length) contract. As a result of support from the (then all-male) student body and the general public, however, Daly was ultimately granted tenure.

Daly's refusal to admit male students to some of her classes at Boston College also resulted in disciplinary action. While Daly argued that their presence inhibited class discussion, Boston College took the view that her actions were in violation of title IX of federal law requiring the college to ensure that no person was excluded from an education program on the basis of sex, and of the university's own non-discrimination policy insisting that all courses be open to both male and female students.

In 1989, Daly became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press.

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