Gender and Psychoanalytic Method (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sex and Gender in the Notion of Sexuality in Psychoanalysis
2018
The significance of the distinction drawn between sex or biological attributes and gender identity cannot be overstated. This distinction has been a crucial point of departure for feminist criticism of male dominance, for it shows that gender identity and sexual orientation are socially or historically defined and therefore changeable. One of the most decisive modes of how ideologies (patriarchal and phallocratic ideologies in this case) subject and qualify " individuals " so that they " recognize " themselves in them, is by telling them, making them recognize what is possible and impossible, by creating their sense of the mutability of what exists (Therborn, 1980). From a more theoretical point of view this line of demarcation has also brought into focus sexuality as an area in which systematic inequalities between men and women are played out. And rather than confine themselves to exploring and describing instances of power relations as they manifest themselves in cultural products with a " sexual theme " feminist theorists like J. Mitchell (1975) had tried to analyse and explain if possible how sexuality itself is constructed and implicated in wider ideological relations. In her endeavour Mitchell turned to psychoanalysis and as supporting evidence she drew upon Lévi-Stauss's anthropological studies. Her book " Psychoanalysis and Feminism " was unique when first published and broke new ground, if not by anything else, at least by the very deed of appropriating Freud's work, which had been the object of a sustained hostility, particularly among American radical feminism, claiming that " psychoanalysis is not a recommendation for a patriarchal society, but an analysis of one (Mitchell, 1975, p. xv). This ambiguity as to the value of psychoanalysis for feminism shows perhaps the pertinence of Foucault's assertion that a discourse cannot have a stable and uniform tactical function, but, as it consists of a multiplicity of discourse elements, it can be the stake of diverse strategies (Foucault, 1976, p. 133). What I shall try to examine is whether elements of psychoanalytic discourse can be unambiguously appropriated and used in order to make clearer and substantiate the very general and all-inclusive claim that gender identity and sexual relations and practices are psychically, socially and culturally defined. Also I shall examine the extent to which Freud managed to clarify the connection between the somatic and the psychical.
The Body of Evidence. Psychoanalysis and Sex Difference
In this article, we wish to examine whether the body actually gives a testimony of sex difference, what this may stand as an evidence of, and how it acts in the structuring of the psyche. The psychoanalytical concepts of sexuation and sexuality will be tackled, questioning how sex difference may proceed from the visibility of bodies, what inscription of the symbolic order it performs and how it is used by psychoanalytical theory. With the help of Monique Schneider’s analyses, we shall browse through the multi-layered Freudian text, which will lead us to the notion of sex assignment through the look. We shall try to establish a dialogue between psychoanalysis and Judith Butler’s gender theory, which gives an account of this assignment and upsets the meanings of sex difference. We shall eventually analyse the Lacanian concept of phallus and approach it through its social-historical determination.
Questions that Matter: Gender and Psychoanalysis’ Theoretical Borders
Recherches en psychanalyse, 2021
This article discusses the introduction, acceptance and refusal of gender theories in psychoanalysis. The central line of discussion consists in approaching the articulation between psychoanalysis and gender studies from a wide perspective, mobilizing specific debates to inquire the manner how these issues are dealt with within psychoanalytic theory. The initial problem derives from the acknowledgment that psychoanalytic debates upon gender issues are often poorly developed, focusing on limited and many times caricatural approaches. A guiding interrogation might therefore be defined as “are gender related questions taken in their full disruptive potential within psychoanalysts or has the psychoanalytic community been taking defensive positions in order to avoid a difficult debate”? This kind of query leads to reflecting beyond the content of theoretical advances made in the last decades, allowing us to consider the function such debates play in psychoanalytic community. It means that analysing how these discussions are proposed and performed might indicate signs of psychoanalysis’ overture or refusal tendencies towards such issues. Understanding the reasons for this limited positioning to such crucial matter is an essential task for psychoanalysts who are committed with the construction of a psychoanalytic praxis which is both present in the culture and politically implicated.
Psychoanalytic Psychology, 2001
Arising from the area of gender and sexuality, a revolution is taking place within psychoanalysis, one that has been developing for years and has recently burst forth more fully. It has spawned a landmark 1996 supplementary volume of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association; two new journals on gender and sexuality; and innumerable books, presentations, and articles. Generally, established institutes seem unaware of this revolution in a formal sense and have yet to change their required curriculums to accommodate it. Many male psychoanalysts, to judge by their lack of attendance at psychology-of-women or gender-related presentations or study groups, appear resistant, unaware that these changes will ultimately affect not only the way in which psychoanalysts think about women but about men. The changes are happening so fast and furious that even those immersed in them, who have brought about some of the most interesting results, have difficulty keeping up with the literature; as one psychoanalyst recently suggested, she was dancing as fast as
Femininity and Psychoanalysis, 2019
For Freud, famously, the feminine was a dark continent, or a riddle without an answer. This understanding concerns man's relationship to the question of 'woman' but femininity is also a matter of sexuality and gender and therefore of identity and experience. Drawing together leading academics, including film and literary scholars, clinicians and artists from diverse backgrounds, Femininity and Psychoanalysis: Cinema, Culture, Theory speaks to the continued relevance of psychoanalytic understanding in a social and political landscape where ideas of gender and sexuality are undergoing profound changes. This transdisciplinary collection crosses boundaries between clinical and psychological discourse and arts and humanities fields to approach the topic of femininity from a variety of psychoanalytic perspectives. From object relations, to Lacan, to queer theory, the essays here revisit and rethink the debates over what the feminine might be. The volume presents a major new work by leading feminist film scholar, Elizabeth Cowie, in which she presents a first intervention on the topic of film and the feminine for over 20 years, as well as a key essay by the prominent artist and psychoanalyst, Bracha Ettinger. Written by an international selection of contributors, this collection is an indispensible tool for film and literary scholars engaged with psychoanalysts and anybody interested in different approaches to the question of the feminine. Agnieszka Piotrowska is an award-winning film-maker and theorist, best known for her iconic documentary Married to the Eiffel Tower. She is the author of Psychoanalysis and Ethics in Documentary Film, Black and White and The Nasty Woman and the Neo Femme Fatale in Contemporary Cinema, and editor of Embodied Encounters and co-editor of Psychoanalysis and the Unrepresentable. Ben Tyrer is a film theorist and lecturer. He is the author or works on cinema, psychoanalysis and philosophy and is the co-editor of Psychoanalysis and the Unrepresentable.
2012
This contribution considers the evolutionary possibilities of conflict in gender individuation. Matching of differences is effective but only on the condition that each subject learns and develops a positive meaning of the conflict. This work, based on a few case-studies, presents women’s failure to sustain long term projects in their lives, with durable change. Girls are not sufficiently stimulated by their mothers to continue investing energy in their everyday behaviour and gender roles. As a result the difficulty of relating to different affective codes and conceptions deriving from gender leads to a regressive stance and the alienation of one’s own power, as a consequence of psychic ostracism . I have studied the inter-generational transferences of the female model which influences the reciprocal recognition of affective codes, of sexual development and of gender. I use psychoanalytical categories to understand specific problems about the difficulty of one’s own individuation pr...
Psychoanalysis Needs a Sex Change
2012
This paper discusses the crucial part played by psychoanalysis in the history of transsexualism and assesses the controversial yet central role of sex-change theory for psychoanalysis. Indeed, the pioneer sexologist and activist Magnus Hirschfeld was among the founders of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society. Hirschfeld was appreciated by Freud, although rejected by Jung. It is time both to historicise and theorise the loaded connection between sexologists and psychoanalysts. The author argues for the depathologisation of transgenderism. Lacan's theory of the sinthome offers an innovative framework for rethinking sexual difference. With the help of this theory, one can challenge the pathological approach too often adopted by psychoanalysis. This calls for a more fruitful dialogue between Lacanian psychoanalysis and the clinic of transsexual-