Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-289) and index.

How do you explain the oppression and brutalization of half the world's population by the other half throughout history? This is an eye-opening journey through centuries, continents and civilizations as it looks at both historical and contemporary attitudes to women. Encompassing the Church, witch hunts, sexual theory, Nazism and pro-life campaigners, we arrive at today's developing world, where women are increasingly and disproportionately at risk because of radical religious belief, famine, war and disease. It deals with the fundamentals of human existence - sex, love, violence - that have shaped the lives of humans throughout history. The answer? It's time to recognize that the treatment of women amounts to nothing less than an abuse of human rights on an unthinkable scale.