Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory by Nancy J. Chodorow

by Nancy J. Chodorow

In this important book, a leading feminist theorist traces the development of her views on the psychodynamics and culture of gender, drawing on her understanding of psychoanalysis as well as on her background in sociology and anthropology.

Genres: Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Psychology, Nonfiction, The United States Of America, Womens, Politics

Paperback

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

Nancy Julia Chodorow is a feminist sociologist and psychoanalyst educated at Radcliffe College and Brandeis University. She has written a number of influential books, including The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender (1978); Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory (1989); Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities: Freud and Beyond (1994); and The Power of Feelings: Personal Meaning in Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Culture (1999).

She is widely regarded as a leading psychoanalytic feminist theorist and is a member of the International Psychoanalytical Association, often speaking at its congresses. She spent many years as a professor in the departments of sociology and clinical psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She retired from the University of California in 2005.
(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

She stresses me out.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A SERIES OF ESSAYS ON THE RELATION BETWEEN THESE TWO DISCIPLINES

Nancy Julia Chodorow (born 1944) is a feminist sociologist and psychoanalyst, and former professor at UC Berkeley; she has written other books such as 'The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender,' 'Individualizing Gender and Sexuality,' 'The Power of Feelings: Personal Meaning in Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Culture,' etc.

She wrote in the Introduction to this 1989 book, "This volume traces my thoughts about the relations between feminism and psychoanalytic theory over the last twenty years, since the beginning of the contemporary feminist movement. The essays argue for the necessity to include psychoanalytic understanding... in feminist theory and feminist understanding... in psychoanalysis... They begin from my argument for the importance of women's mothering for the constitution of psychic life, and of experiences of self and other. They focus on the relations and psychologies of gender and sexuality." (Pg. 13-14)

She states, "Psychoanalytic feminism has a rather complex and sometimes underground prehistory... I locate its political and theoretical origins with Karen Horney, a second-generation analyst whose early essays on femininity forcefully challenge Freud. Horney asserts a model of women with positive primary feminine qualities and self-valuation, against Freud's model of women as defective and forever limited, and she ties her critique of both psychoanalytic theory and women's psychology to her recognition of a male-dominant society and culture." (Pg. 2-3)

She suggests, "As long as women must live through their children, and men do not genuinely contribute to socialization and provide easily accessible role models, women will continue to bring up sons whose sexual identity depends on devaluing femininity inside and outside themselves, and daughters who must accept this devalued position and resign themselves to producing more men who will perpetuate the system that devalues them." (Pg. 44)

She observes, "My investigation suggests that ... We can only understand gender difference, and human distinctness and separation, relationally and situationally. They are part of a system of asymmetrical social relationships embedded in inequalities of power, in which we grow up as selves, and as women and men. Our experience and perception of gender are processual; they are produced developmentally and in our daily and cultural lives." (Pg. 112)

She asserts, "feminism demands a theory of how we become sexed and gendered. Freud has given us such a theory. He has given us a rich account of the organization and reproduction of sex and gender, of how we are produced as gendered and sexed. Psychoanalytic theory is almost by definition a theory of sexuality and the way sexuality develops in women and men. Freud shows us why we do not exist apart from our particular sexualization and gender identification, even though that sexualization and that gender identification are created." (Pg. 168) She adds, "[Freud's] anti-woman statements are not intrinsic to psychoanalytic theory and modes of theorizing or to clinical interpretation, but counter to them. This is why there... has needed to be, such extensive feminist critique and revision of Freud. But because the theory is so useful, this critique and revision have often been rich and provocative." (Pg. 173)

This book will be of keen interest to anyone studying feminism and psychology, or Freudianism in particular.

[HK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masterfully written. She is perhaps my favorite female intellectual writer but as a constructive theorist she completely ignores or fails to recognize the existence of both male and female sexual desire and as such she isn't someone we can rely on as a theorist for how for how to organize society or as an intersexual commentator.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revolutionary!