Discussion of “The Psychodynamics of Expansiveness in the Success-Oriented Woman”

This paper presents a conceptual approach that promises to be extremely useful. Women who have been only two-dimensional come to life. Dr. Symonds’ hope to illuminate the complex problems of women who have left behind the warmth of a safe harbor to risk the dangers of the unknown has been amply and compassionately realized. It was probably her compassion, as well as her intellectual curiosity, that led her to study these types of women and to discover incisive differences as to their varied origins, varied conflicts, and the varied pictures they present.

This contribution counteracts the stereotypes that result from inadequate knowledge of career-oriented women and of their threat to our so-called “residuals.” At first hearing of the title of this paper, in a fraction of a second I conjured up images of the expansive woman as a steamroller, a powerhouse, and abrasive to boot! Only somewhat later did I visualize a successful, yet human, woman, despite the presence of many such in our group.

I remember, too, that not only at the beginning but even during the activism of the women's movement, the instant response of many psychiatrists was, “It's only neurotics acting out their hostility,” or “It's just a bunch of man-hating lesbians acting out their penis-envy and castration wishes.” As Dr. Symonds says, in an ironic context about frightened women in this paper, this is a “characteristic hostility from self-effacing people to signs of expansiveness,” and, I add, expansiveness of those who have previously been in their “proper place.”

Yet, we all must make room for ourselves. Room will not be made. And as we have seen with the liberation of our patients through their analytic work, friction, open hostilities, and even war erupt around them as they insist on their own expansion. Similarly to the laws of physics, activity is met with reactivity, but in psychology, as Horney brought out, it is met with much more than equal force. So active women must deal with much more than