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An urgent exploration of how the gendering of emotions came about, and what we can do to change these damaging stereotypes, by award-winning behavioural and data scientist Dr Prayga Agarwal
A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: POPULAR SCIENCE
AN iNEWS BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF 2022
A TELEGRAPH BIG IDEAS BOOK 2022
How we interpret emotions and act on them has been heavily gendered, as far back as Ancient Greek and Roman times, and – despite improvements in societal equality – continues to be today.
In Hysterical, Dr Pragya Agarwal delves into history and science to determine the truth about our notions 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 imagines how a future where emotions are ungendered might look.
“In her latest fascinating book, Agarwal investigates the gendering of human emotions … The result is an impassioned and highly convincing book”
observer
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“Agarwal debunks well-worn myths in this fascinating account of gendered emotions”
The Best Nonfiction Books Of 2022
i
“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”
the Times
“Analytical and wide-ranging … Agarwal reaches back to the medieval era to show how entrenched gender ideologies are in our society”
new Statesman
“Fascinating and ambitious … Will resonate with many”
daily Telegraph
Pragya Agarwal
Dr Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural and data scientist. She has held senior academic positions in the UK and USA for over fifteen years and is currently visiting professor of social inequities at Loughborough and a Visiting Fellow at University of Oxford. As well as numerous research papers, she is the author of three widely acclaimed non-fiction books, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking with Children about Race and (M)otherhood: On the choices of being a woman, and a book Standing Up To Racism for young children. Her writing has also appeared in the Guardian, Prospect, BBC Science Focus, Scientific American and New Scientist amongst others.
A passionate campaigner for racial and gender equity, Pragya has given keynote talks around the world. Pragya has been awarded the Transmission Prize for making complex scientific ideas accessible and the Nesta Crucible award for scientific innovation. In 2023, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award, The Churchill Fellowship and British Library Fellowship.
@DrPragyaAgarwal | drpragyaagarwal.com