You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Gender and gender identity as discussed in Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's introductory essay are relatively new terms in psychoanalysis. Gender, with its own connotations and ambiguities, has somewhat superseded the traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity and the biological categories of male and female. The change in terminology is indicative of the profound changes in psychoanalytic theory which have occurred in the period following World War II. Knowledge of development is vastly greater than in the pioneer period of psychoanalysis, and psychoanalytic developmental research has since expanded exponentially. New contributions from within psychoanalysis and from a variety of other disciplines have challenged previous thinking, raising new questions and providing fresh perspectives.
Gender is a complex concept deriving from, and influenced by, many frames of reference. Biological sex, social class, race, constitutional and cultural forces, society and family, language and religion, and pervasive unconscious fantasies, myths, and stereotypes all influence gender development. In the crosscurrents of different disciplines, frameworks, and impassioned attitudes and convictions, discourse has often produced more heat than light.
Psychoanalysis as a theory of the mind incorporates many dimensions and considers many propositions about gender; conversely, understanding gender necessarily includes a psychoanalytic perspective. The journal, Gender and Psychoanalysis, provides an interdisciplinary forum for new studies, formulations, and integrations of ideas concerning gender.
The journal should stimulate open exchange and inquiry and lively scholarly dialogues. Contemporary controversies will be explored in