Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society

, Volume 21, Issue 3, pp 223–231 | Cite as

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

Original Article
  • 356 Downloads

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.

Keywords

feminist ethics feminist psychoanalysis intergenerational feminism 

References

  1. Althusser, L. (1972) Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. In: Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Translated by B. Brewster London: Monthly Review Press, pp. 127–186.Google Scholar
  2. Butler, J. (2005) Giving an Account of Oneself. New York: Fordham University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Crenshaw, K. (1991) Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review 43(6): 1241–1299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Haaken, J. (1998) Pillar of Salt: Gender, Memory, and the Perils of Looking Back. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
  5. Haaken, J. (2010) Hard Knocks: Domestic Violence and the Psychology of Storytelling. London. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  6. Haaken, J. and O’Neill, M. (2014) Moving images: Psychoanalytically informed methods in documenting the lives of women migrants and asylum seekers. Journal of Health Psychology 19(1): 79–89.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. Haaken, J. and Palmer, T. (2012) War stories: Discursive strategies in framing military sexual trauma. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society 17(3): 325–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Kratz, C.A. (2002) Circumcision debates and asylum cases: Intersecting arenas, contested values, and tangled webs. In: R.A. Shweder, H.R. Markus and M. Minow (eds.) Engaging Cultural Differences: The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracies. NY: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 309–343.Google Scholar
  9. Leyden, L. (1999) Deportation halted for woman fleeing mutilation. The Washington Post, 21 July, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/national/daily/july99/abankwah21.htm.
  10. Martin, D.A. (2005) Adelaide Abankwah, Fauziya Kasinga, and the dilemmas of political asylum. In: D.A. Martin and P.H. Shuck (eds.) Immigration Stories. New York: Foundation Press, pp. 245–277.Google Scholar
  11. Mulhern, S. (1994) Satanism, ritual abuse, and multiple personality disorder: A sociohistorical perspective. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 42(4): 265–288.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  12. Nathan, D. and Snedeker, M. (1995) Satan’s Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
  13. Richie, B. (2012) Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
  14. Rowbotham, S., Segal, L. and Wainwright, H. (2013) Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism. London: Merlin.Google Scholar
  15. Segal, L. (2007) Making Trouble: Life and Politics. London: Serpents Tail.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Psychology, Portland State UniversityPortlandUSA

Personalised recommendations