Introduction to Feminist Therapy

Strategies for Social and Individual Change

Kathy M. Evans, Elizabeth Ann Kincade, Susan Rachael Seem

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781412915373, 9781412915366
• eBook ISBN: 9781452259222
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

A step-by-step approach to implementing feminist therapy with women and men from all cultures and diverse backgrounds

Focusing on the practical application of feminist theory to clinical experience, Introduction to Feminist Therapy provides guidelines to help therapists master social action and empowerment techniques, feminist diagnostic and assessment strategies, and gender-role and power analyses to foster individual and social change. This practical guide is ideal for graduate students enrolled in a techniques of counseling course and practitioners who wish to incorporate feminist therapy into their current approach, including how to apply feminist therapy to both women and men and how to deal with the gender issues of both sexes.

CHAPTER 1

FEMINIST THERAPY: ROOTS AND BRANCHES

Feminist therapy, like many movements and concerns focused on a revisioning of society, is grounded in history and theory. In the current therapeutic climate of empirically validated treatments and evidence-based practice, we believe it is necessary to understand the roots of feminist therapy theory and practice, the context in which these developed, and the manner in which they continue to flourish.

Contemporary feminist therapy grew out of the Women’s Movement of the 1960s. This began as a grassroots movement—a social and political movement that grew out of the dissatisfaction of common women in everyday life. To this day, feminist therapy seeks to remain true to these roots and to be relevant to a wide spectrum of concerns and clients. It is also important to understand that the modern women’s movement is well grounded in feminist theory, the philosophical belief system that underlies feminism. Feminist theory is a philosophical point of view with a history reaching back more than 150 years. Feminism as a political-activist movement developed from the experiences of women, in their daily lived experiences in love and work. We acknowledge that because of social, political, and economic factors, the feminist movement was initially based on the experiences of middle-class, majority-culture (e.g., White) women. This is an artifact of the dominant cultural paradigm. Women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and from oppressed ethnic cultural backgrounds did not have the time or resources to ponder and seek to change their sociopolitical status. They focused on daily survival for themselves and their families. In an ironic twist, it was the male, middle-class domination of the sociopolitical sphere that allowed middle-class, majority-culture women the “privilege” to develop feminist consciousness. Unfortunately, middle-class, majority women did not immediately apply their feminist consciousness of oppression to their sisters who experienced multiple oppressions. We will discuss this in more detail as we examine the history or rather her-story of feminist therapy.

The authors view feminist therapy as a therapy focused on eliminating oppressions, both internal and external, for all people—not just for women. Throughout this book we make the case for feminist therapy as transformation on both individual and cultural levels. However, feminist therapy did begin as a therapeutic stance for women that privileged women’s experience. This stands in direct contrast to previous therapeutic frameworks that privileged men’s experience and then attempted to fit women’s experience into those frameworks. In understanding the history and context of feminist therapy, it is important to understand feminist philosophy and feminism as privileging women’s experience.

• FEMINISM AND FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY

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First, it is important to understand the concept of feminism and feminist philosophy because misconceptions about feminism abound. Quite simply, feminism is a social movement to end sexism and sexist oppression (hooks, 1984). Dictionaries agree on a fairly simple definition: “a belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes” (American Heritage Dictionary, 2006). An early but still important work on feminism, psychology, and therapy (Mander & Rush, 1974) stated that feminism is about making connections— between feelings and experiences and political context, between personal and economic power, between feelings and theories, between domestic oppression and labor exploitation, and between inner psychological worlds and outside worlds. Feminism provides a lens through which a woman can understand her experience. It allows her to make a connection between what she believes is her individual situation and pain to the larger world in which she lives and which expects her to behave in certain ways regardless of her needs and wants, skills, and abilities.

Feminist philosophy and theory looks closely at power structures in society. For example, all inequities are assumed to be based on institutionalized power. Those who have this power in the United States are generally White, middle-to-upper-class, heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied males. Discrimination and oppression occur against those without such power, for example, women, racial/ethnic minorities, lower and poor classes, sexual minorities, non-Christian, and non–ablebodied people. The common theme that runs through feminism is the need for social change and the use of power analysis of the dominant culture in order to understand what needs to be done to achieve this change.

WOMEN’S LIBERATION AND THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT •

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The Women’s Liberation Movement emerged during the politically charged 1960s and certainly challenged the gender status quo of that era. However, the seed for what is commonly called the Second Wave of United States Feminism began in the 1940s and 1950s (Sturdivant, 1980). First, World War II led to a shortage of male workers in all fields. Women filled these positions, from factory workers to baseball players to bank administrators. Second, by the end of the 1950s, middle-class White women—many of whom had been professionally employed 15 years earlier or had role models from that era— became disenchanted with the cultural myth of that period that endorsed marriage and children as the only fulfillment of a women’s role in life. This was exemplified in the book The Feminine Mystique (Friedan, 1963). Finally, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s led many to question the United States’s value system. Social protest against social inequality began to cut across race and class lines. The Civil Rights Movement called into question the United States’s support of a single set of values based on White, middle-class people (Boyd, 1990). This set of values did not acknowledge or support ethnic diversity. Thus, the Civil Rights Movement raised the dominant society’s consciousness. Women were strong supporters of, and participants in, the Civil Rights Movement. This participation led women to become aware of their own oppression and to question the gender status quo. In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed to address the legal and economic equality of women. As a result of these social factors, the second wave of feminism began. This second wave of feminism is what most of us are familiar with as the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Feminism asks that individuals carefully examine their adherence to dominant cultural assumptions that might be harmful to others. Since the early 1980s, contemporary feminists have examined feminism itself and have asked the following question: What dominant cultural assumptions may be entrenched in feminist theory and practice? Out of this self-reflection grew the awareness that feminism is not a unitary movement, nor does it have to be. To be effective as both a social and an individual change mechanism, feminism must be inclusive. It must recognize that diversity is strength rather than weakness. Current feminist theoreticians embrace multiple points of view under the “feminist” umbrella and talk about feminisms rather than feminism. These feminisms look at a multiplicity of paths leading to a more egalitarian society for all genders. They acknowledge that women are not a monolithic grouping and that power and status inequities exist across women of differing social positions (Brown, 1994; Enns, 1992; Worell & Remer, 2003). Contemporary feminism considers not only the diversity of women’s experiences but also the diversity of human experience. This diversity can best be understood by examining the different ways in which feminisms view the cause and cure of oppression.

• FEMINISMS: A DIVERSITY OF POSITIONS

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Commonly accepted positions within feminism are as follows: (a) liberal or reformist, (b) radical, (c) socialist, (d) women of color or womanism, and (e) cultural. Each one will be outlined briefly in the following discussion. The annotated bibliography provides more information about the theorists and writers in these areas.

Liberal or reformist feminism (Brown, 1994; Crawford & Unger, 2000; Enns, 1992, 1993; Evans, Kincade, & Seem, 2005; Sturdivant, 1980; Worell & Remer, 2003) views women’s oppression as a result of sexism. Sexism involves constraints on individuals with regard to gender-role socialization, culture, laws, and economics. These constraints are primarily focused on women and limit women’s opportunities and roles. In liberal feminism, gender is the only important category of political analysis. This perspective tends to exclude other variables, such as class, ability, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity, all of which could be more important than gender regarding human experiences of power and oppression (Brown, 1994). In liberal or reformist feminism, the solution to women’s oppression is to reform the system by changing laws, politics, and educational and employment arrangements to guarantee equal rights for women. This perspective informed the move for an Equal Rights Amendment in the United States. It is the philosophy behind gender equality in sports (Title IX legislation) and nonsexist hiring practices in the workplace.

Radical feminism (Brown, 1994; Crawford & Unger, 2000; Enns, 1992, 1993; Evans, Kincade, & Seem, 2005; Worell & Remer, 2003) views women’s oppression as embedded in the patriarchy or the unequal allocation of power to men in our society. Gender-based oppression is perceived as the most basic and pervasive form of oppression and, as such, is common to all women. Radical feminists believe that the unequal allocation of power leads to institutionalized male domination, heterosexism, and violence. Instead of working within the system to change laws as liberal feminists would do, radical feminists believe that the liberation of women requires the total transformation of patriarchy (male-privileged culture) and advocate altering social institutions and relationships. This perspective has led to women-only movements in therapy (Chesler, 1972/2005) as well as to feminist separatist movements.

In contrast with liberal and radical feminists, socialist feminists (Crawford & Unger, 2000; Enns, 1992, 1993; Evans, Kincade, & Seem, 2005; Sturdivant, 1980) believe that oppression is a product of both gender and socioeconomic class. Other categories of inequity, such as race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability, and other minority statuses, are also considered important as they are often interwoven into class structures. In fact, multiple oppressions are viewed as inseparable and caused by the impact of gender-role socialization, institutionalized control of reproduction and sexuality (the refusal of insurance to reimburse for birth control prescriptions), the structure of production (gender roles in paid and unpaid employment), and the capitalistic socioeconomic paradigm. Socialist feminists believe that capitalism, the dominant socioeconomic paradigm, upholds a patriarchal system and precludes any lasting change. Restructuring life, both publicly and privately, is the source of liberation. Thus, socialist feminists call for dramatic changes to the dominant socioeconomic paradigm (capitalism) in order to end multiple oppressions and the patriarchal system that benefits from them.

Women of color feminism or womanism (Brown, 1994; Crawford & Unger, 2000; Evans, Kincade, Marbley, & Seem, 2005; Worell & Remer, 2003) challenges other feminists’ belief that gender is the only salient category of oppression and insists that the experiences of White women cannot be generalized to the lives of women of color. Womanism identifies institutional racism as a major source of women’s oppression and, in general, does not view men of color as sexist oppressors but as co-victims of racism. Womanism focuses its attention on the impact of the combined forces of race/ethnicity and gender not only on women’s and men’s experiences but also on the entire culture. Liberation occurs through the elimination of White privilege, respect for the values and cultures of people of color, and the elimination of both institutionalized racism and sexism.

Cultural feminism (Enns, 1992, 1993; Evans, Kincade, & Seem, 2005; Sturdivant, 1980; Worell & Remer, 2003) acknowledges differences between women and men and attends to women’s unique strengths. Because women’s oppression is rooted in the devaluation of women’s relational strengths, this perspective seeks to honor women’s abilities to be emotionally intuitive, cooperative, altruistic, and communal. The solution to women’s oppression lies in the feminization of the culture so that both men and women’s ways of being are valued.

Despite the diversity of feminisms, two common themes unite all the feminisms (Crawford & Unger, 2000). All feminisms highly value women’s experience and women. All also recognize the need for social change. Because feminisms focus on the social contexts of women’s lives, changing social systems and equalizing power are considered necessary to ending all forms of domination, subjugation, and oppression in a patriarchal society. In sum, feminist philosophies focus on the social and political context of women’s lives and promote social change, rather than individual adjustment to the status quo, as a way to improve lives and mental health (Rawlings, 1993).

The various forms of feminism as articulated earlier are closely connected to the practice of feminist therapy. Feminist therapy is grounded in two beliefs. First, women’s lived experiences and the context of those experiences are important to both women and their therapists and are prioritized in therapy. Second, societal change is necessary for lasting individual change and growth. Contemporary feminist therapists recognize that gender and gender roles are important aspects of the lives of all individuals and underlie the foundations of many contemporary institutions. It is not only women who are impacted. As contemporary feminist therapists, we speak about the focus on the lived experiences of human beings in a society within inflexible and often unconscious gender roles and the need for social change to impact emotional health for both individuals and cultures. Next we turn to the development of contemporary feminist therapy.

• PRECURSORS OF FEMINIST THERAPY

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Perhaps, the most long-lasting statement from the second wave of feminism of the 1960s and 1970s was the adage that the personal is the political. This statement challenged women and men to consider that their personal lives reflected the values and politics of the culture and that the values and politics of the culture also impacted their personal lives. Breaking from traditional ways of thinking about women and men in one’s personal life was a political act as well as a personal act. From this mode of thinking arose consciousness-raising (CR) groups.

The Women’s Liberation Movement had two major aims (Rosenthal, 1984): (a) to change the social and economic conditions of women and (b) to change individuals. CR groups linked these two goals. Women met in small, leaderless groups to discuss their personal experiences, that is, to bring into their consciousness awareness of problems and issues that had a political as well as a personal context. As women in these groups discovered the similarity of their experiences and concerns, they began to understand that their individual experiences were a result of the condition of women in society and not of their individual failure. Personal experiences were analyzed in political terms (Sturdivant, 1980). The objective of CR groups was to empower women to take social action. Psychological healing was an unintended by-product brought about as members’ social isolation decreased and they became aware of their oppression and own internalized sexist beliefs about women’s inferiority. This empowered women to think differently about their abilities and their self-worth (Sturdivant, 1980).

On the political level, CR groups developed an analysis of society based on female experience, thus connecting the personal to the political through the sharing of women’s stories (Sturdivant, 1980). As a grassroots organization, the Women’s Liberation Movement believed that CR groups would create the revolutionary politics necessary for mass, social action (Rosenthal, 1984; Sturdivant, 1980). Women would work together to find solutions to their common problem, oppression.

The norms of CR groups were feminist: a collective structure; the equal sharing of power, responsibility, and resources; the focus on social conditioning and social problems as the roots of women’s distress; and women’s commonalities (Enns, 1993). Groups were leaderless; each woman was considered an expert about herself and able to help others as much as others aided her. Women’s experiences and truths were valued and respected. Although feminists acknowledged that participation in CR groups could be therapeutic, they did not regard CR groups as therapy (Sturdivant, 1980). Therapy meant that the individual was the patient and was sick. Rather, feminists believed that society was the sick patient and that social change was the cure. In sum, feminism and CR groups challenged the traditional assumptions of counseling and psychology and therapy practice and were the precurs...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. Feminist Therapy: Roots and Branches
• Chapter 2. Feminist Therapy: A Social and Individual Change Model
• Chapter 3. Ethics and Values in Feminist Counseling and Psychotherapy
• Chapter 4. The Importance of Gender Roles
• Chapter 5. Mental Health and Diagnosis in the Context of Feminist Therapy
• Chapter 6. Feminist Conceptualization
• Chapter 7. Establishing and Maintaining the Egalitarian Relationship
• Chapter 8. Gender-Role and Power Analyses
• Chapter 9. Social Change and Empowerment
• Chapter 10. Feminist Therapy in Clinical Practice
• Chapter 11. Critical Case Studies
• Name Index
• Subject Index
• About the Authors