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The participants in the roundtable on Horney and gender had read papers by Alexandra Symonds (1991), Martin Symonds (1993), and Marcia Westkott (1989). The roundtable opened with several questions that informed the discussion. Initially the discussion focused on two absences in Horney's theory concerning gender: her presumption of a normal heterosexuality (and relative silence about homosexuality) and her theoretical emphasis on culture, which leaves unanswered questions about the interaction between biology and culture with regard to gender differences.
One participant posed a question concerning the relationship between psychology and politics: Is it possible to engage in a discourse about gender that is purely psychological, or is it inevitably influenced by the political? Someone responded that concepts may originate in psychology, but their application may, indeed, be political. Another noted that the formation of a psychological concept is rooted in cultural contexts and is, therefore, informed by them, and thus, necessarily political.
Interestingly enough, the discussion on gender became most lively when it drew on the participants' experiences, including those of gender politics. The group agreed that the differences in the ways boys and girls are socialized promote the development of different idealized selves for men and women. They explored the implications of gendered idealized selves for creating social and psychological changes—;and for the resistance to making changes in gender relations. The participants noted the importance of Horney's early work on women but also drew on her later theory to understand the resistance for change. One noted, for example, a man who espouses feminism, but treats women in a demeaning or sadistic way. Another observed contemporary women who sabotage career aspirations by reverting to self-effacing behaviors (a phenomenon earlier observed by Horney). The group conclude that until boys and girls are treated the same we cannot