Psychoanalytic Reflections on a Gender-free Case: Into the Void

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.

Table of Contents:
Toronto, Introduction. Part I: Gender Unbound. Toronto, Case Presentation. Toronto, The Feminine Unconscious in Psychoanalytic Theory. Part II: Suspending Certainty in the Consulting Room. Donovan, Commentary on Part II. Alpert, Childhoods Driven Wrong. Gerson, An Analyst’s Pregnancy Loss and its Effects on Treatment Disruption and Growth. Sarnat, Working in the Space Between Psychoanalytic and Trauma-oriented Approaches to Stories of Abuse. Part III: Family Relationships: Shifting Perspectives. McWilliams, Commentary on Part III. Kieffer, Selfobjects, Oedipal Objects and Mutual Recognition: A Self-psychological reappraisal of the female 'Oedipal victor'. Donovan, Demeter and Persephone Revisited: Ambivalence and Separation in the Mother-Daughter Relationship. Lax, Boys' Envy of Mother and the Consequences of this Narcissistic Mortification. McWilliams, Mothering and Fathering Processes in the Psychoanalytic Arts. Part IV: Beneath the Bedrock: The Gender of Desire. Ainslie, Commentary on Part IV. Young-Eisendrath, The Female Person and How We Talk About Her. Elise, Woman and Desire: Why Women May Not Want to Want. Part V: Multiplicity: Postmodern Revisions of Gender. Kieffer, Commentary on Part V. Layton, Beyond Narcissism: Toward a Negotiation Model of Gender Identity. Goldner, Ironic Gender, Authentic Sex. Gerber, Gender Stereotypes and the Change Towards Greater Personal Maturity in Psychotherapy. Knoblauch, The Music of 'Masculinity': Clinical Attention to Tone and Rhythm in Gender Construction. Leary, Race in Psychoanalytic Space. Dimen, Afterword.

About the Author :
In private practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan practices psychoanlaysis and psychotherapy in Austin, Texas Psychologist in private practice in Washington DC Psychoanalyst and Psychotherapist in private practice in Bethesda and Silver Spring, Maryland Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University