Feminist psychology
Encyclopedia
Feminist psychology, is a form of psychology
centered on societal structures, and gender
. Feminist psychology critiques the fact that historically psychological research has been done from a male perspective with the view that males are the norm. Feminist psychology is oriented on the values and principles of feminism
. It incorporates gender and the ways women are affected by issues resulting from it.
Gender issues can include the way people identify their gender (male, female, transgender
), how they have been affected by societal structures related to gender (gender hierarchy), the role of gender in the individual’s life (such as stereotypical gender roles), and any other gender related issues.
The objective behind this field of study is to understand the individual within the larger social and political aspects of society. Feminist Psychology puts a strong emphasis on gender equality
and women's rights
.
, a neo-Freudian psychologist
who founded a psychology focused on gender and discovering how gender affected the individual. In her book, Feminine Psychology, which is a collection of articles Horney wrote on the subject from 1922–1937, she addresses previously held beliefs about women, relationships, and the effect of society on female psychology. Horney developed this form of psychology specifically in response to Sigmund Freud’s
theory of “penis envy”
was created in 1969 in response to the American Psychological Association’s apparent lack of involvement in the Women’s Liberation Movement. The organization formed with the purpose of fighting for and raising awareness of feminist issues within the field of psychology. The association focused its efforts toward feminist representation in the APA and finally succeed in 1973 with the establishment of APA Division 35.
which guide the acceptable forms of expression for particular people and feelings.
Stereotypes of emotion view women as the more emotional sex. However, feminist psychologists point out that women are only viewed as experiencing passive emotions such as sadness, happiness, fear, and surprise more strongly. Conversely, men are viewed as more likely to express emotions of a more dominant nature, such as anger. Feminist psychologists believe that men and women are socialized throughout their lifetimes to view and express emotions differently. From infancy mothers use more facial expression when speaking to female babies and use more emotion words in conversation with them as they get older.
Girls and boys are further socialized by peers where girls are rewarded for being sensitive and emotional and boys are rewarded for dominance and lack of most emotional expression. Psychologists have also found that women, overall, are more skilled at decoding emotion using non-verbal cues. These signals include facial expression, tone of voice, and posture. Studies have shown gender differences in decoding ability beginning as early as age 3 ½.
The second existing bias in health care is reproductive health. Reproductive health implies people have a right to a satisfying and safe sex life, have the ability to reproduce, the freedom to decide if and how often they reproduce. Women need access to, and information about safe, effective, and affordable family planning methods to achieve this goal. Problems with maintaining reproductive health remain the leading cause of illness and death of childbearing aged women worldwide. In addition, poor reproductive health is associated with abuse, exploitation, disease, unwanted pregnancy, and death. Clearly, women do not have enough knowledge of or access to services that can help them promote their reproductive health.
The highest attainable level of reproductive health is a fundamental human right. Components of Reproductive health services include: information regarding family planning, STD prevention and management, reducing harmful sex practices, eliminating unwanted pregnancy, decreasing reproductive tract infections, lessening infertility, reducing reproductive tract cancers, and eliminating violence against women. Problems also involved in reproductive health include services such as counseling, prevention, detection and management of reproductive health problems. http://www.un.org/popin/unfpa/taskforce/guide/iatfreph.gdl.html Guidelines on Reproductive Health.
Reproductive freedom is yet another aspect of reproductive health. Feminists continue to advocate reproductive freedom for all women. Reproductive freedom includes having the right to take comprehensive sexual education classes, access to safe and legal abortion, and access to safe and reliable contraceptives. Since it is a woman's body and right, reproductive choices should be made by women. Pro-choice is the term coined for this perspective on reproductive freedom.
The goal of feminist therapy is the empowerment of the client. Generally, therapists avoid giving specific diagnoses or labels and instead focus on problems within the context of living in a sexist culture. Clients are given assertiveness training and encouraged to understand their problems with the intent of changing or challenging their circumstances. Feminist therapists view lack of power as a major issue in the psychology of women. Accordingly, the client-therapist relationship is meant to be as egalitarian as possible with both sides communicating on equal ground and sharing experiences.
Feminist therapy is different than nonsexist therapy in that it goes beyond the idea that men and women should be treated equally in the therapeutic relationship. Feminist therapy incorporates political values while nonsexist therapy does not. Also, feminist therapy demands social change as well as personal change in order to improve the psychological state of the client.
, but feminist psychologists also work with women in search of counseling, as well as men. Feminist therapists are therapists with an interest in gender
. Psychologists who have earned their doctoral degree in psychology can then take postdoctoral training in feminist and gender issues. Certainly, psychologists who also identify with the feminism, the belief that women and men are equals, may call themselves feminist psychologists, as these are two identifying qualities about an individual. However, specific postdoctoral training programs hold higher accreditation for the title of feminist psychologists. Currently, there are not many postdoctoral training programs in feminist psychology, but models for this training are being developed and modified for institutions to start offering them. Most of this training is modeled around gender-fair counseling techniques.
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Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
centered on societal structures, and gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
. Feminist psychology critiques the fact that historically psychological research has been done from a male perspective with the view that males are the norm. Feminist psychology is oriented on the values and principles of feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
. It incorporates gender and the ways women are affected by issues resulting from it.
Gender issues can include the way people identify their gender (male, female, transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
), how they have been affected by societal structures related to gender (gender hierarchy), the role of gender in the individual’s life (such as stereotypical gender roles), and any other gender related issues.
The objective behind this field of study is to understand the individual within the larger social and political aspects of society. Feminist Psychology puts a strong emphasis on gender equality
Gender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
and women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
.
Feminist Psychoanalysis
The term feminist psychology was originally coined by Karen HorneyKaren Horney
Karen Horney born Danielsen was a German-American psychoanalyst. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views, particularly his theory of sexuality, as well as the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis and its genetic psychology...
, a neo-Freudian psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
who founded a psychology focused on gender and discovering how gender affected the individual. In her book, Feminine Psychology, which is a collection of articles Horney wrote on the subject from 1922–1937, she addresses previously held beliefs about women, relationships, and the effect of society on female psychology. Horney developed this form of psychology specifically in response to Sigmund Freud’s
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
theory of “penis envy”
Functionalism, Darwinism and the Psychology of Women
The beginning of psychology research presents very little in the way of female psychology. Once the functionalist movement came about in the United States, academic psychology’s study of sex difference and a prototypic psychology of woman were developed.The Association for Women in Psychology (AWP)
The Association for Women in PsychologyAssociation for Women in Psychology
The Association for Women in Psychology is a not-for-profit scientific and educational organization committed to encouraging feminist psychological research, theory, and activism. AWP was founded in 1969 at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association...
was created in 1969 in response to the American Psychological Association’s apparent lack of involvement in the Women’s Liberation Movement. The organization formed with the purpose of fighting for and raising awareness of feminist issues within the field of psychology. The association focused its efforts toward feminist representation in the APA and finally succeed in 1973 with the establishment of APA Division 35.
The Society for the Psychology of Women
APA Division 35, The Society for Psychology of Women, was established in 1973. It was created to provide a place for all people interested in the psychology of women to access information and resources in the field. SWP works to incorporate feminist concerns into the teaching and practice of psychology. Div 35 also runs a number of committees, projects, and programs.Emotion
A major topic of study within feminist psychology is that of gender differences in emotion. In general, feminist psychologists view emotion as culturally controlled and state that the differences lie in the expression of emotion rather than the actual experience. The way a person shows his or her emotions is defined by socially enforced display rulesDisplay rules
Display rules are a social group's informal norms about when, where, and how one should express emotions.Expressions of emotions vary to a great degree and hold significant meaning with great value of determining one's cultural and social identity. Display rules identify these expressions to a...
which guide the acceptable forms of expression for particular people and feelings.
Stereotypes of emotion view women as the more emotional sex. However, feminist psychologists point out that women are only viewed as experiencing passive emotions such as sadness, happiness, fear, and surprise more strongly. Conversely, men are viewed as more likely to express emotions of a more dominant nature, such as anger. Feminist psychologists believe that men and women are socialized throughout their lifetimes to view and express emotions differently. From infancy mothers use more facial expression when speaking to female babies and use more emotion words in conversation with them as they get older.
Girls and boys are further socialized by peers where girls are rewarded for being sensitive and emotional and boys are rewarded for dominance and lack of most emotional expression. Psychologists have also found that women, overall, are more skilled at decoding emotion using non-verbal cues. These signals include facial expression, tone of voice, and posture. Studies have shown gender differences in decoding ability beginning as early as age 3 ½.
Health
There are two ways in which biases exist in health care. The first way is a bias by healthcare providers in the way that they treat and interpret pain in men vs. women. Numerous studies have revealed females are not taken as seriously as males when they complain to doctors of pain issues. Health care providers believe psychogenic causes are the reason females complain of pain. According to health care providers, women are experiencing pain because of a mental or emotional issue. This leads them to discredit a woman's reports of pain. However, when a man experiences pain, he is not informed it is because of a mental or emotional cause. This becomes problematic because women are not receiving adequate health care. For example, when a woman's pain is exacerabted by mental disorders, she will be under treated because the healthcare providers are biased in favor of psychological contributors to pain. Researchers believe the ongoing trend of healthcare providers attributing pain to psychological causes is related to women's higher prevalence of emotional problems such as depression and anxiety. In sum, women's reports of pain are taken less seriously than men's. In addition, women receive less aggressive treatment than men for pain issues. Finally, women may have more coping mechanisms to deal with pain than men do, creating the misconception that men can tolerate more physical pain.The second existing bias in health care is reproductive health. Reproductive health implies people have a right to a satisfying and safe sex life, have the ability to reproduce, the freedom to decide if and how often they reproduce. Women need access to, and information about safe, effective, and affordable family planning methods to achieve this goal. Problems with maintaining reproductive health remain the leading cause of illness and death of childbearing aged women worldwide. In addition, poor reproductive health is associated with abuse, exploitation, disease, unwanted pregnancy, and death. Clearly, women do not have enough knowledge of or access to services that can help them promote their reproductive health.
The highest attainable level of reproductive health is a fundamental human right. Components of Reproductive health services include: information regarding family planning, STD prevention and management, reducing harmful sex practices, eliminating unwanted pregnancy, decreasing reproductive tract infections, lessening infertility, reducing reproductive tract cancers, and eliminating violence against women. Problems also involved in reproductive health include services such as counseling, prevention, detection and management of reproductive health problems. http://www.un.org/popin/unfpa/taskforce/guide/iatfreph.gdl.html Guidelines on Reproductive Health.
Reproductive freedom is yet another aspect of reproductive health. Feminists continue to advocate reproductive freedom for all women. Reproductive freedom includes having the right to take comprehensive sexual education classes, access to safe and legal abortion, and access to safe and reliable contraceptives. Since it is a woman's body and right, reproductive choices should be made by women. Pro-choice is the term coined for this perspective on reproductive freedom.
Leadership
In the United States, women comprise half of the work force. However, there are only a small amount of women with high held positions in corporations. Women constitute only 16% of Fortune 500 corporate officers, 12% of board directors, 16% of state governors, 14% of United States senators, 2% of high-level military officers, and 24% of university and college professors. Women of color have much lower statistics than Caucasian-American women. Women of color are included in less than the above percentages in higher-up work forces. The United States is ranked 59th out of 184 countries in the participation of women in the lower government levels. Women tend to experience a "glass ceiling effect" when taking on leadership positions. The glass ceiling effect refers to invisible yet powerful barriers that prevent women from moving beyond a certain level in the work place. In addition, women experience a "sticky floor effect." The sticky floor effect happens when women have no job path or ladder to higher positions. When women have children they experience a roadblock called the maternal wall. The maternal wall is when women receive less desirable assignments and less opportunities for advancement after they have a child. When women begin working at a company, their advancement can be limited by not having a senior level employee taking an active role in the development and career planning of junior employees. There are a lack of female mentors to assist new female employees because there are less women than men in higher level company positions. A woman with a male mentor could experience difficulty in gaining bonding and advice from out of work experiences. This is because men play basketball or golf and typically exclude women from these endeavors. Other factors limiting leadership for women are cultural differences, stereotypes, and perceived threats. If women show a small amount of sensitivity, they are stereotyped as being overly emotional. Generally, employers do not accept sensitive, soft people as being able to tackle tough decisions or handle leadership roles. However, if a woman displays male traits she is portrayed as mean, butch, and aggressive. Women are viewed as less competent when they showcase non-"feminine" traits and are not taken seriously. Another factor leading to discrimination and stress are cultural differences between managers and workers. For example, if a manager is white and has an employee of color, stress may be created if they do not understand or respect each other. Without trust and respect, advancement is unlikely. Regarding perceived threats at work, it is not a matter of sexual harassment or harassment in general. The threat is the fact that women could possibly take over. The more women working in a place of employment, the increased threat a man feels over job security. In a study of 126 male managers, when asked to estimate the number of women working at their place of employment and whether or not they felt men were disadvantaged. Men who believed there were many women felt threatened about the security of their job (Beaton et al., 1996). Alice Eagly and Blair Johnson (1990) discovered that men and women have different small differences in their styles of leadership. Women in power were seen as interpersonal and more democratic, whereas men were seen as task oriented and more autocratic. In reality, men and women are equally effective in their styles of leadership. A study by Alice Eagly (Eagly, Karau, & Makhijani, 1995) found no overall differences in the effectiveness of male and female leaders in facilitating accomplishment of their group goals.Violence
In today's society, violence is often correlated with gender inequality. This specifically applies to women. Violence occurs frequently in the forms of domestic violence, sexual harassment, childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault, and rape. Violence towards women can be physical or psychological and is not limited by race, economic status, age, ethnicity, or location. Women can be abused by strangers but often the abuser is someone the woman knows. Violence can have both short and long term affects on women and they react to the abuse in various ways. Some women express emotions such as fear, anxiety, and anger. Others choose deny it occurred and conceal their feelings. Often, women blame themselves for what happened and try to justify that they somehow deserved it. Among victims of violence, psychological disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression are common. In addition to the psychological ramifications, many women also sustain physical injuries from the violence which creates the necessity to seek medical attention.Feminist Therapy
Feminist Therapy is a type of therapy based on viewing women within their sociocultural context. The main idea behind this therapy is that women's psychological problems are often a symptom of larger problems in the social structure in which they live. There is a general agreement that women are more frequently diagnosed with internalizing disorders such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders than men. Feminist therapists dispute earlier theories that this is a result of psychological weakness in women and instead view it as a result of encountering more stress because of sexist practices in our culture.The goal of feminist therapy is the empowerment of the client. Generally, therapists avoid giving specific diagnoses or labels and instead focus on problems within the context of living in a sexist culture. Clients are given assertiveness training and encouraged to understand their problems with the intent of changing or challenging their circumstances. Feminist therapists view lack of power as a major issue in the psychology of women. Accordingly, the client-therapist relationship is meant to be as egalitarian as possible with both sides communicating on equal ground and sharing experiences.
Feminist therapy is different than nonsexist therapy in that it goes beyond the idea that men and women should be treated equally in the therapeutic relationship. Feminist therapy incorporates political values while nonsexist therapy does not. Also, feminist therapy demands social change as well as personal change in order to improve the psychological state of the client.
Feminist Therapists
Feminist therapists often work with clientele who have experienced gender-related trauma such as dating/relationship violence or sexual assaultSexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
, but feminist psychologists also work with women in search of counseling, as well as men. Feminist therapists are therapists with an interest in gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
. Psychologists who have earned their doctoral degree in psychology can then take postdoctoral training in feminist and gender issues. Certainly, psychologists who also identify with the feminism, the belief that women and men are equals, may call themselves feminist psychologists, as these are two identifying qualities about an individual. However, specific postdoctoral training programs hold higher accreditation for the title of feminist psychologists. Currently, there are not many postdoctoral training programs in feminist psychology, but models for this training are being developed and modified for institutions to start offering them. Most of this training is modeled around gender-fair counseling techniques.
External links
- AWP
- APA Division 35
- SWP
- What You can do with a Degree in Women’s Studies
- Office of Research on Women’s Health
- National Organization for Women
Ways to Get Involved in social issues:
Ways to get involved in Media Outlets:
Getting Involved Everywhere: