3. Perilous Crossings: Tales of Gender, Identification and Exiles Desires
Presenter: |
Sandra M. Kiersky, PhD |
Chair: |
Joan A. Lang, MD |
Self Psychology Page | 21th Conference
Program
Summary
This presentation reviews briefly psychoanalytic theories of gender beginning with Freud's original views and the early critiques of his position by Horney and Thompson. Feminist, post-modern and relational attempts to revision gender in psychoanalysis are then noted and Dimen's recent argument that the two waves of feminist scholarship regarding gender actually contradict each other is explored. In contrast to Dimen's call for a post–modern third step, a model of gender is proposed utilizing self psychology, intersubjectivity, attachment research and systems theory. From this perspective, gender is conceptualized as an intersubjectively organized aspect of self experience that is contextual, sustained in interaction with others and capable of transformation throughout life. Gender and sexuality are intimately connected but are not identical. Both are mediated by attachment, giving them a special significance for affect regulation and self–protective maneuvers. Clinical material is presented to illustrate these concepts and a developmental process studied at Hampstead Clinic by Fonagy, Target and others is shown to be useful in understanding gendered experience. It is proposed that this process – the achievement of a self–reflective function in children – is crucial to a flexible, healthy sense of gender and that gender fluidity, rather than conformity, should be the focus of analytic understanding in the clinical process.