Psychoanalytic Reflections on a Gender-free Case

Into the Void

Ellen L. K. Toronto, Gemma Ainslie, Molly Donovan, Maurine Kelly, Christine C. Kieffer, Nancy McWilliams, Ellen L. K. Toronto, Gemma Ainslie, Molly Donovan, Maurine Kelly, Christine C. Kieffer, Nancy McWilliams

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134947737
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychoanalysis
• Index: Psychology

The past two decades of psychoanalytic discourse have witnessed a marked transformation in the way we think about women and gender. The assignment of gender carries with it a host of assumptions, yet without it we can feel lost in a void, unmoored from the world of rationality, stability and meaning. The feminist analytic thinkers whose work is collected here confront the meaning established by the assignment of gender and the uncertainty created by its absence.

The contributions brought together in Psychoanalytic Reflections on a Gender-free Case address a cross-section of significant issues that have both chronicled and facilitated the changes in feminist psychoanalysis since the mid 1980s. Difficult issues which have previously been ignored (such as the pregnancy of the therapist or sexual abuse regarded as more than a fantasy) are considered first. The book goes on to address family perspectives as they interact and shape the child's experience of growing up male or female. Other topics covered are the authority of personal agency as influenced by the language and theory of patriarchy, male-centred concepts that consistently define women as inferior, and the concept of gender as being co-constructed within a relationship.

The gender-free case presented here will fascinate all psychoanalysts interested in exploring ways of grappling with the elusive nature of gender, as well as those studying gender studies.

Index

acting out 136

affect 50, 58, 175, 223, 251; lack of 33, 40; overwhelming 56; problems with 69

African Americans 224, 286–96

agency 4, 5, 7, 187, 188, 222, 230, 232–3, 261–5, 273, 278, 300; definition of 257; and gender 17, 180, 186, 217, 220, 229, 231, 234, 235, 257–8; lack of 6, 200, 218, 220, 246, 262, 282; sense of 4, 11, 115, 123, 125, 194, 271, 274, 276

aggression 24, 31, 41, 61, 76, 87, 128, 218; defensive 222; fear of 78; sexual 22, 25, 27, 41, 218

alexithymia 33

Allison, Dorothy 236

amnesia 61, 69, 71; infantile 250

anal phase 41

analyst-patient relationship see therapist-patient relationship

analytic space 92, 94, 100; collapse of 105, 107

androcentrism see patriarchy

anger 70, 76, 79, 82, 83, 85, 161, 162, 230, 236, 264, 270, 295

anhedonia 137

animus 133

anorexia 11, 13, 185; treatment of 106

anthropology 116

anti-Semitism 246

aphanisis 203

Aristotle 156

art 23, 179

autistic-contiguous position 52

Baudelaire, Charles 298

Bion, Wilfred 97

Birmingham School 233

bisexuality 35, 199, 200, 202; psychic 198, 201

blackness 288, 289, 294, 296; “authoritative” 224–5, 288, 293

body agency 238

body language 16, 34, 250

borderline disorders...