Reflections on the Development of Male Chauvinism

Nicolas Chauvin was a soldier in Napoleon's army who was noted for loud-mouthed patriotism. Male chauvinism has been defined by Woods (1976) as “blind allegiance and simple-minded devotion to one's maleness that is mixed with open or disguised belligerence toward women. It is also usually associated with an unconscious magical ritual to ward off anxiety engendered by these same women” (p. 63). It is not often explored in therapy because it is ego-syntonic, is in accord with traditional cultural attitudes, and is a bias still shared by some therapists.

Well before the feminist movement it was recognized that femininity is much devalued and that idealization of women barely masks an underlying contempt for them. Anthropologists have stated that the devaluation of women in many cultures is just as strong as the oppression of racial or ethnic minorities. David (1970) observed that one primitive tribe refers to women as “the race which is not entitled to speak” (p. 50).

As is characteristic of oppressed groups, women may participate in this depreciation of themselves as much as men do, in what has been called the “masochistic attitude” of women. What underlies this complicity of both sexes in this devaluation? In addition to the cultural pressures on women to denigrate themselves, there are powerful internal pressures, since institutionalized patterns are not maintained unless there are advantages for all involved. Men have been seen as possessing all the advantages of a “ruling class” but they also pay a price for this.

Many psychoanalysts believe that the devaluation of women originates in the real or imagined genital deficiency of the female sex. Hatred of the mother for her lack of a penis and the resulting contempt not just toward her but toward all women is unavoidable for girls because of their castration

Presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, New Orleans, LA, May 10, 1991.