The Shadow King is an inner self that carries the patriarchal traditions, values and rules of the last six millennia—an internalized version of the outer patriarchy. It is the name Sidra Stone has given to the Inner Patriarch.

As with the outer patriarchy, he functions both protectively and destructively. If a woman is aware of this, she can manage him constructively—just as self-aware women have dealt with the outer patriarchy in recent years. A woman can feel and see the actions of the outer patriarchy but remain unconscious of this piece within her. In fact, most women will indignantly deny that they have one! Yet it is this invisible force—this Inner Patriarch—that is defining her role in the world. It is gaslighting her: reinforcing her personal glass ceiling; supporting male dominance; influencing her relationships, her power, her sexuality, her sense of entitlement; and generally devaluing traditionally feminine gender roles, while overvaluing traditionally masculine ones. The Inner Patriarch acts like a magician in the fairy tales, transforming a grown woman into a daughter (either a good daughter or an angry one). This daughter, in turn, transforms every man that she meets into a father and so subverts her own power. Women can rewrite this fairy tale.

With newfound Feminine Power, they can break this enchantment that has held them—and the men in their lives—captive for so long. Together, they can claim their full human birthright. This book gives a picture of women’s empowerment that begins within their own psyches. They will be able to move beyond the dictates and concerns of their own inner patriarchs into a new consciousness as full partners in the creation of a more inclusive post-patriarchal civilization. In this revelatory and inspirational, yet practical, personal, and sometimes humorous, presentation, Dr. Stone gives a rich, inclusive, and encouraging look at what the future might hold.