Diane L. Rosenfeld at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes DIANE L. ROSENFELD, founding director of the Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School, for a discussion of her new book The Bonobo Sisterhood: Revolution Through Female Alliance.

A Return to In-Person Events

Harvard Book Store is excited to be back to in-person programming. To ensure the safety and comfort of everyone in attendance, the following Covid-19 safety protocols will be in place at all of our Harvard Book Store events until further notice:

• Face coverings are required of all staff and attendees when inside the store. Masks must snugly cover nose and mouth.

About The Bonobo Sisterhood

Urgent, timely, and original, The Bonobo Sisterhood harnesses the power of the #MeToo movement into a road map for sex equality in humans. Our closest evolutionary cousins, the bonobos have a unique social order in which the females protect one another from male aggression. The takeaway? Evolutionarily, bonobos have eliminated sexual coercion and enjoy a more peaceful, cooperative, and playful existence. We have much to learn from them.

Rosenfeld explores the implications of the bonobo model for human societies and systems of governance. How did law develop to elude women’s rights so consistently? What difference does it make that we live in a patriarchal democracy? And what do bonobos have to offer as living proof that patriarchy is not inevitable? Most important, how can women break down barriers among themselves to unleash their power as a unified force? Rosenfeld has answers.

The Bonobo Sisterhood takes us through real-life stories from the courtroom to the classroom and beyond, charting a new vision of a collective self-defense among women and their allies. It offers an action plan accessible to everyone immediately. This is an open invitation to anyone who wants to challenge the status quo. It starts with the power inherent in each of us knowing that we have selves worth defending, and awakening that power for ourselves and for our sisters. We now have a new model for real change, Rosenfeld reminds us. It’s time to use it.

The Bonobo Sisterhood forges a path to create and discover a new meaning of equality, liberty, and justice for all.

Praise for The Bonobo Sisterhood

“Rosenfeld’s tour-de-force takes the power of female alliances to a higher level, giving us a road map for a new vision of women’s equality through the relationships and bonds we form among one another. The gift of this book is that it gives us hope.” —Valerie Jarrett, New York Times bestselling author of Finding My Voice, and former senior advisor to President Barack Obama

“With The Bonobo Sisterhood, everyone—including the men she invites in as allies—can get a taste of Rosenfeld’s signature fusion of passionate advocacy for survivors along with an activist-scholar’s command of legal theory and practice. This book should be widely read by anyone who is rightly tired of the status quo and wants both revolutionary insight and practical suggestions for change.” —Jackson Katz, PhD, author of The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help

“The Bonobo Sisterhood shows us that the way to disrupt patriarchy is by demonstrating that safety, security, and strength can exist among women—an idea that is both simple and radical all at once. When we strengthen our bonds with one another, rather than relying on the unstable promise of protection under patriarchy, a whole new direction is possible, and, indeed, better for all.” —Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center and cofounder of the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund