Feminism : Women And Femininity

Personality is a concept that will continue to studied and improved upon. Theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl G. Jung, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Anna Freud, and Heinz Hartmann and several others have contributed significant ideas to the study of personality and have had impacts on our current approaches. The purpose of this paper is to compare two sources of the motivations concerning why people behave the way they do. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic approach will be discussed and compared to the approach of neo-analyst Karen Horney. Karen Horney claimed that psychoanalysis is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts and she offered a uniquely feminist perspective for her time that disputed the Freudian theory of penis envy.

While Psychoanalysis has provided many psychological breakthroughs in the field of mental health, it has also created great issue in relation to gender equality. Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory has contributed to the solidification of female oppression, and to the inferior status of women in the twentieth century. Psychoanalysis had become so intwined into the constructs of a male dominated society that it creates further barriers in attempts for gender equality. While many people have established their point of view through scholarly journals or scientific writings, Angela Carter uses an artistic approach by contesting Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in her

The mind is shaped by those with which one surrounds him or herself. This is a result of the human desire to see oneself in others as a tactic to relate and discover commonalities. The inclination to build relationships and connect to other humans is so strong that people become dependent on external gratification, even in environments where acquaintances do not necessarily reflect a person on the most basic level: sex. Due to overpowering masculinity, women oftentimes submit to the ideals of their male counterparts and the societal expectations pushed onto them as women in a patriarchal society. Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones displays that the feminine inferiority complex is not innate, but rather is informed by external forces.

Freud was known for having the inclinations to follow every mental issue back to sexual issues. Despite the fact that lone parts of his hypothesis of psychosexual advancement are being acknowledged by standard analysts, Freud's hypothesis of the Oedipal Complex has turned out to be extremely well known in the way of life. That hypothesis is the critical for sexual association with the parent of the inverse sex and a corresponding feeling of contention with the parent of a similar sex. Sigmund Freud acquainted us with the idea in his "Interpretation of Dreams" in 1899. Psychoanalysis is a system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements. Freud developed this theory all because of his study of the unconscious mind. And that the unconscious mind will govern your mind and behavior to a greater than anyone would ever think would be done. The whole purpose of of the psychoanalysis theory is to to turn the unconscious conscious. That's what psychoanalysis is and how it was developed (McLeod, 2014).

In her text Passionate Men, Emotional Women: Psychology Constructs Gender Difference in the 19th Century, historian Stephanie A. Shields delineates the ways in which the Western modern project required in its logic of construction a need to create and reproduce an epistemological, discursive, and pseudo-scientific dichotomous relationship between the genders. Specifically, Shields emphasizes the ways in which a certain dogmatic praxis of evolutionary theory, in juxtaposition with social science, worked to produces a science of psychology that in turn generated a hierarchical understanding of gender relations, premised on the politics of emotions and the mind/body divide.

Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory and Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory are two important psychoanalytic theories on human development

It feels as though most of the time when thinking about psychology and the great contributions that have been made to it, that most of them have been from men, but along the way there have been several influential women that have contributed to the field of psychology as well. Just like men, there were several women who were pioneers, theorists, and counselors; many of these women have contributed to the field of psychology in their own special between the years of 1850 and 1950. Of all these amazing women who are pioneers, theorists, and counselors, the one who stands out the most is Anna Freud. This paper will go on to explain Anna Freud’s

When we study the history of psychology one might assume there were minimal female contributors, but that is a big misconception. Women in the past struggled with discrimination and many hurdles to gain recognition for their work. Women psychologists have gone largely unrecognized, unappreciated, and almost unseen to historical accounts. The lack of acknowledgement for women psychologists in today’s study takes away from the comprehensive study to our generation. It is exceedingly important that we receive a well-rounded education of all the great psychologists in history and not only the male founders. The following women I will discuss mention only a few who have made an influence in psychology.

After this recognition of this dissimilarity, the female believes that she is at a great disadvantage and she resultantly wishes to acquire a penis. The theory also explains that small girls feel sensitive over the lack of a sex organ equal to the boy’s, and holds herself to be inferior on that account. Freud’s describes that “three lines of development diverge from penis envy, one leads to sexual inhibition or to neurosis, the second to a modification in the sense of masculinity complex, and the third to normal femininity” (NLA Ch.5). The usage of this explanation as a way to characterize feminine psychology has spurred many negative criticisms of Freud’s work on female psychology, and most people have now realized that this his theories were very inaccurate.

Undoubtedly Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. He was an influential thinker of the early twentieth century who elaborated the theory that the mind is a complex energy-system and the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology. Freud articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression and he proposed tripartite account of the mind ‘s structure, all as part of a radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions. Freudian approach can be

The “New Woman” refers to a category of women, beginning in the late 19th century, who adopted feminist ideals, wishing to break gender roles and gain independence from and equality with men (Newton, 560-61). While not one specific, real person, the “New Woman” is an overarching term that encompasses the many women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first generation of these women strove for economic and social autonomy with roles separate from the home and family spheres of domesticity (Newton, 561). For example, they would not marry, but instead receive a higher education and work in a profession (Newton, 561). To replace their commitments to men and family, they instead formed close and passionate relationships with other women, though these relationships were not sexual in nature, people viewed women as passionless and pure. The second generation, however, living in a more modernist culture of sexual freedom, began to discuss female sexuality, and wanted to participate in more opportunities only offered to men, including drinking and smoking (Newton, 564). Because of the societal idea that only men were sexual beings, New Women had to explain the intimate relationships among them, which had become sexual in the second generation. Thus, they created the idea of masculine lesbians, who had male souls that caused them their sexual feelings (Newton, 566). The “mythic mannish lesbian” refers to these women who dressed and acted in a masculine manner

Women have played a very important role in the development of psychology, though they are not recognized as major contributors. In this paper we are going to be focusing on the works and contribution of Anna Freud. She is known for her construction of child psychoanalysis theory and her interpretation of child psychology. Anna Freud (1895-1982) is famous as being involved in the foundation of the child psychoanalytic movement. She was the youngest of Freud’s children and the only one to whose life was devoted to psychoanalysis. Her development of child psychoanalysis has been greatly noted in the history of psychology. Anna Freud kept the basic ideas that her father developed. However, her interest laid in the psyche and how it was constructed. She also took interest in the where the ego stood in the structure of the psyche. She saw the ego as the “seat of observation”; it is from the ego that we can clearly see how the

Sigmund Freud was the discoverer and inventor of psychoanalysis and coined the term in 1896 after publishing studies on Hysteria with Joseph Breuer in 1895. Psychoanalysis still remains unsurpassed in its approach to understanding human motivation, character development, and psychopathology. Freud’s insights and analyses of psychic determinism, early childhood sexual development, and unconscious processes have left an indelible mark on psychology (Korchin, 1983).

When one hears the term “Feminism”, she/he may have the idea that it is the urge and

According to Horney femininity has “some secret relationship with masochism” (Horney,110). Horney has elaborated Freud's assumption and generalized it in calling masochism the elemental power in feminine mental life.( http://docplayer.net/28636797-Femininity-sigmund-freud-new-introductory-lectures-on-psycho-analysis-1933-lecture-iii.html) He contends that what woman ultimately wants in intercourse is to be raped and violated; what she wants in mental life is to be humiliated, menstruation is significant to the woman because it feeds masochistic fantasies; childbirth represents the climax of masochistic satisfaction. The pleasure of motherhood, in as much as they include certain sacrifices and a concern for the children, constitute a long drawn out masochistic gratification. “Because of these masochistic strivings women are more or less doomed to be frigid unless in intercourse they are or feel raped, injured or humiliated” (Horney 111). Rado holds that “woman’s preference for masculinity is a defense against feminine masochistic strivings” (Horney 111).