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Riding the waves of feminism: Psychoanalysis and women’s liberation

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Abstract

Eras of feminism differ in the programs, campaigns and critiques advanced, and in the sense of what is at stake. Taking up the identity of feminist has always meant weathering projections—attempts to induce shame, insults to one’s sexual identity, and attacks upon one’s femininity or basic adequacy as a woman. But feminist commitments also carry a range of moral and ethical dilemmas. This paper considers what psychoanalysis has to offer in working through conflicts that arise in feminist activism, focusing on three recurring dilemmas where struggles for recognition and moral authority carry ethical implications.

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Correspondence to Jan Haaken.

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Haaken, J. Riding the waves of feminism: Psychoanalysis and women’s liberation. Psychoanal Cult Soc 21, 223–231 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2016.5

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