The 'F' Word
This was supposed to be a presentation I was assigned to perform with a Learning Team during the last class of a six-week course on Counseling Models. Excellent class. Thank you, Dr. Alan Levy, long may you wave. Anyway, the whole thing got bollixed up by time constraints, so I didn't get to do most of this. I thought it was too good to go to waste, so here it is. Enjoy.
Do you remember a time before text messaging, cell phones, Ipods, ATMs, Cable television, TV remote controls and personal computers? I do. I was born in 1953. I was 12 years old in 1965. I remember watching the Viet Nam war on television, Civil Rights demonstrations, protests on college campuses, and Hippies. I was in school when President Kennedy was shot. I even remember the time before we had trade relations with China! I also remember a time before there was feminism.
When I was a freshman in college, in 1971, all the freshmen women were housed in the same dormitory. We had a curfew; the men didn’t. We had to be in the building by 9 p.m. and in our rooms by 10 p.m. Some of us didn’t comply and were severely lectured and punished. Men were not allowed in the women’s dorm rooms at any time or for any reason, even relatives. There was no such rule for the men. This was not a private religious college or any other kind of anomaly; it was a state university.
If a woman was raped in those days, it was perfectly legal to throw her case out of court because of her appearance, her employment, or her presence in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was also legal for a husband to rape his wife, even if the couple had been separated for years. Few raped or battered women ever came forward to report the crimes against them. There were no battered women’s shelters or rape crisis centers of any kind. Women who were in battering relationships were commonly thought to have invited the battering, and marriage counselors blamed them for being the kind of women who looked for abusive men. Divorce was rare when I was growing up; people weren’t any happier, but there was little support in even the most extreme cases for ending a marriage.
I remember the 1960s as a time of great excitement and upheaval. Things were changing rapidly because people were starting to realize that the way things had always been was no longer good enough. Friends, acquaintances, family members and strangers had heated arguments over such issues as appropriate hair length, whether married women should be allowed to work outside the home, and whether ‘separate but equal’ meant what it sounded like. People of color were tired of 2nd class citizenship, being barred from many jobs, schools, and public places. Women began seeking equal rights with men. Gays and lesbians were no longer satisfied to be hidden in the background. Marginalized groups of all kinds were beginning to work for change.
Conditions for gays, people of color and women are not perfect in this new century. There are still areas of discrimination. For instance, we still don’t have an equal rights amendment. But those who choose to discriminate are no longer smugly expecting society to go along with them.
The roots of feminist therapy began when women started to meet in consciousness-raising groups in the 60s and 70s. Formal psychotherapy was invariably hierarchical at that time, with the patient seen as subordinate to the therapist, and was therefore considered to be part of the oppression, so women relied on self-help for their counseling needs. Only when therapists began to join consciousness-raising groups did feminism start to creep into the existing therapeutic approaches.
As therapists began to incorporate feminist principles and beliefs into their practice with clients, such as equality in the counselor/client relationship, and began moving away from the pathological intrapsychic view of client problems, organizations began to perform gender bias studies in the 1970s. The American Psychological Association funded a number of these, such as The Task Force on Sex Bias and Sex Role Stereotyping, and the APA’s Divisions 35 and 17, which described different ways counselors would address gender bias issues with clients. The Association for Women in Psychology was another organization devoted to promulgating feminist principles in psychotherapy.
Research continued in the 1980s as the relational-cultural model led to a feminist theory of personality development. Women’s distinct experience as fundamentally cooperative and relational people began to be honored by therapists. Feminist psychotherapy was directed especially toward its use in family therapy and career counseling for women.
Feminist therapy began to diversify and focus on issues specific to women, such as body image, eating disorders, abusive relationships, incest and sexual abuse. Different feminist philosophies began to develop, according to practitioners’ views on the best way to change society and define the sources of oppression.
Feminist theory began to be divided into four interrelated parts, which later diversified into eight philosophies. The first four were: Liberal, Cultural, Radical and Socialist feminism.
Liberal feminists believe that the focus of therapy needs to be on individual women and their socialization patterns. Women ought to be equal to men because they are equally capable, and when individual women have been empowered and allowed their dignity, equality, and self-fulfillment, gender differences will be less important in social and work settings.
Cultural feminists believe that problems of societal oppression can be solved by incorporating more feminine values into the structure of society. The nurturing, intuitive, cooperative nature of women would transform society into a more welcoming paradigm for all groups.
Radical feminists seek societal transformation through activism. Identifying and challenging patriarchal oppression in relationships, families, workplaces, and institutions will change society. Giving women self-determinism in sexual and childbearing arenas would be transformative. Radical feminists are primarily political in their outlook.
Socialist feminists are similarly political, though their focus is different from Radical feminists. Multiple oppressions, such as those of class, race, ethnicity, economic health and historical considerations must be addressed in order to transform society; focusing on work, education and family roles point the way to changing institutions and relationships.
More recently, four more feminist classifications have come into being to fill the gaps in the four traditional feminist theories. These are: Post-Modernist, Women of Color, Lesbian, and Global-International feminists.
Post-Modernist feminists disagree with the possibility that there is only one truth and one reality for everyone. They posit that no one can ‘know’ everything, and what may seem to be definite knowledge must be deconstructed. Polarizations such as ‘masculine-feminine’ are rejected and analyzed for their historical basis.
Women of Color feminists believe in making feminism broader and more inclusive. Early feminist theory generalized that oppression for all women was the same, discounting the experiences of different races, ethnicities, and classes. Taking into account multiple oppressions must be included.
Lesbian feminists, similarly, seek greater diversity in feminist theory. Lesbians who think of themselves as feminists also feel excluded by heterosexual feminism, which does not understand the dynamic of sexual orientation discrimination. Lesbian Women of Color also feel excluded on the grounds of their multiplicity of oppressions. Lesbian feminists call for recognition of the diversity of oppression.
Global-International feminists, along the same lines, see the ethnocentricity of Western feminists and feel excluded on the basis that their experience is misconstrued or passed over by Feminist theory. Racism, classism, economics, as well as sexism affect women in different countries, and the cultural differences between feminists need to be addressed.
Clearly, feminist theory is a work in progress. There is no one theory that covers all the bases. We are left with such questions as, “How did it get this way? Why have men traditionally held most of the power and excluded women? What makes research and knowledge nearly an exclusive male domain? Where do we go from here, to solve the problems of gender inequality?” Feminist theorists will continue to work on these problems now and in the future.
Do you remember a time before text messaging, cell phones, Ipods, ATMs, Cable television, TV remote controls and personal computers? I do. I was born in 1953. I was 12 years old in 1965. I remember watching the Viet Nam war on television, Civil Rights demonstrations, protests on college campuses, and Hippies. I was in school when President Kennedy was shot. I even remember the time before we had trade relations with China! I also remember a time before there was feminism.
When I was a freshman in college, in 1971, all the freshmen women were housed in the same dormitory. We had a curfew; the men didn’t. We had to be in the building by 9 p.m. and in our rooms by 10 p.m. Some of us didn’t comply and were severely lectured and punished. Men were not allowed in the women’s dorm rooms at any time or for any reason, even relatives. There was no such rule for the men. This was not a private religious college or any other kind of anomaly; it was a state university.
If a woman was raped in those days, it was perfectly legal to throw her case out of court because of her appearance, her employment, or her presence in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was also legal for a husband to rape his wife, even if the couple had been separated for years. Few raped or battered women ever came forward to report the crimes against them. There were no battered women’s shelters or rape crisis centers of any kind. Women who were in battering relationships were commonly thought to have invited the battering, and marriage counselors blamed them for being the kind of women who looked for abusive men. Divorce was rare when I was growing up; people weren’t any happier, but there was little support in even the most extreme cases for ending a marriage.
I remember the 1960s as a time of great excitement and upheaval. Things were changing rapidly because people were starting to realize that the way things had always been was no longer good enough. Friends, acquaintances, family members and strangers had heated arguments over such issues as appropriate hair length, whether married women should be allowed to work outside the home, and whether ‘separate but equal’ meant what it sounded like. People of color were tired of 2nd class citizenship, being barred from many jobs, schools, and public places. Women began seeking equal rights with men. Gays and lesbians were no longer satisfied to be hidden in the background. Marginalized groups of all kinds were beginning to work for change.
Conditions for gays, people of color and women are not perfect in this new century. There are still areas of discrimination. For instance, we still don’t have an equal rights amendment. But those who choose to discriminate are no longer smugly expecting society to go along with them.
The roots of feminist therapy began when women started to meet in consciousness-raising groups in the 60s and 70s. Formal psychotherapy was invariably hierarchical at that time, with the patient seen as subordinate to the therapist, and was therefore considered to be part of the oppression, so women relied on self-help for their counseling needs. Only when therapists began to join consciousness-raising groups did feminism start to creep into the existing therapeutic approaches.
As therapists began to incorporate feminist principles and beliefs into their practice with clients, such as equality in the counselor/client relationship, and began moving away from the pathological intrapsychic view of client problems, organizations began to perform gender bias studies in the 1970s. The American Psychological Association funded a number of these, such as The Task Force on Sex Bias and Sex Role Stereotyping, and the APA’s Divisions 35 and 17, which described different ways counselors would address gender bias issues with clients. The Association for Women in Psychology was another organization devoted to promulgating feminist principles in psychotherapy.
Research continued in the 1980s as the relational-cultural model led to a feminist theory of personality development. Women’s distinct experience as fundamentally cooperative and relational people began to be honored by therapists. Feminist psychotherapy was directed especially toward its use in family therapy and career counseling for women.
Feminist therapy began to diversify and focus on issues specific to women, such as body image, eating disorders, abusive relationships, incest and sexual abuse. Different feminist philosophies began to develop, according to practitioners’ views on the best way to change society and define the sources of oppression.
Feminist theory began to be divided into four interrelated parts, which later diversified into eight philosophies. The first four were: Liberal, Cultural, Radical and Socialist feminism.
Liberal feminists believe that the focus of therapy needs to be on individual women and their socialization patterns. Women ought to be equal to men because they are equally capable, and when individual women have been empowered and allowed their dignity, equality, and self-fulfillment, gender differences will be less important in social and work settings.
Cultural feminists believe that problems of societal oppression can be solved by incorporating more feminine values into the structure of society. The nurturing, intuitive, cooperative nature of women would transform society into a more welcoming paradigm for all groups.
Radical feminists seek societal transformation through activism. Identifying and challenging patriarchal oppression in relationships, families, workplaces, and institutions will change society. Giving women self-determinism in sexual and childbearing arenas would be transformative. Radical feminists are primarily political in their outlook.
Socialist feminists are similarly political, though their focus is different from Radical feminists. Multiple oppressions, such as those of class, race, ethnicity, economic health and historical considerations must be addressed in order to transform society; focusing on work, education and family roles point the way to changing institutions and relationships.
More recently, four more feminist classifications have come into being to fill the gaps in the four traditional feminist theories. These are: Post-Modernist, Women of Color, Lesbian, and Global-International feminists.
Post-Modernist feminists disagree with the possibility that there is only one truth and one reality for everyone. They posit that no one can ‘know’ everything, and what may seem to be definite knowledge must be deconstructed. Polarizations such as ‘masculine-feminine’ are rejected and analyzed for their historical basis.
Women of Color feminists believe in making feminism broader and more inclusive. Early feminist theory generalized that oppression for all women was the same, discounting the experiences of different races, ethnicities, and classes. Taking into account multiple oppressions must be included.
Lesbian feminists, similarly, seek greater diversity in feminist theory. Lesbians who think of themselves as feminists also feel excluded by heterosexual feminism, which does not understand the dynamic of sexual orientation discrimination. Lesbian Women of Color also feel excluded on the grounds of their multiplicity of oppressions. Lesbian feminists call for recognition of the diversity of oppression.
Global-International feminists, along the same lines, see the ethnocentricity of Western feminists and feel excluded on the basis that their experience is misconstrued or passed over by Feminist theory. Racism, classism, economics, as well as sexism affect women in different countries, and the cultural differences between feminists need to be addressed.
Clearly, feminist theory is a work in progress. There is no one theory that covers all the bases. We are left with such questions as, “How did it get this way? Why have men traditionally held most of the power and excluded women? What makes research and knowledge nearly an exclusive male domain? Where do we go from here, to solve the problems of gender inequality?” Feminist theorists will continue to work on these problems now and in the future.