Optional Workshop B
GENDER AND SEXUALITY:
Where Are We Now?
Co-Leaders: |
Ann D’Ercole, PhD
|
Self Psychology Page | 23rd Conference Program
Overview
In this workshop, we will explore various ways that gender and sexuality develope within intersubjective contexts. Cultures, communities, and families form the ways we come to know (and not know) our individual gendered and sexual selves. We will attempt to de-construct these false dichotomies: heterosexuality and homosexuality, male and female, mind and body. Biological potentials develop and disappear within specific intersubjective contexts. We will ask various questions. Is there something essential about "maleness" and "femaleness," or are these purely social constructions? What role does the body play in the construction of gender and sexuality? What is the place of affects in gender development? How do guilt and shame shape the lives of people who are homosexual or not exclusively heterosexual? How does the analyst’s sexual preference affect the therapeutic dyad? Clinical material will be used to illustrate our ideas and questions.