This volume begins with Arlene Kramer Richards' “Rage and Creativity: How Second-Generation Feminist Thought Collective Influenced Psychoanalysis”. The ideas she sets forth are the jumping off point for the discussions here. By inviting the contributors to discuss her essay, she affords her discussants an opportunity to be part of a feminist collective. Each of the discussants focuses on some aspect of her work that resonates for them. They expand on concepts she introduces, raise questions about particular points she makes and offer their perspective on the topic. A number of the essays explore a facet of the authors' professional and/or personal developments, particularly in relation to feminism and the psychology of women.
While Arlene Kramer Richards' essay, and the discussions that follow, invite one to consider the impact of second wave feminism on psychoanalysis, this volume is about more than feminism, women or women's psychology. The adaptive aspects of rage and aggression to empower, is also a theme. Some of the essays discuss how expressions of righteous anger can grow out of being ignored, unfairly restrained or abused. Others address the ways in which prejudice threatens or quashes ambition. Still others discuss how one mitigates the barriers to self-fulfillment and intellectual honesty, overcoming being invisible or capriciously excluded by the gatekeepers.
The discussants demonstrate how theories that were formerly ignored by mainstream psychoanalysis, i.e. the contributions of Horney and Klein, can be reconsidered and modified to more closely explicate clinical work. In other words, the dynamic aspect of psychoanalysis is highlighted. This collection is designed to consolidate the past, establish our present and prepare a base for the future. The essays here give body to femininity as our contributors, both men and women, speak from a feminist psychoanalytic perspective.
A brief vignette of Dr. Margaret Morgan Lawrence, the first African
American psychoanalyst, illustrates how racism and sexism converge. She is an example of someone, who achieved her ambition, and the respect of her colleagues, despite negative pushback rooted in prejudice.
The Appendix includes a discussion of Marcel Proust's great novel from the perspective of what it might teach us about prejudice and social snobbery. Also included is a passage from the Congressional Record where Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls out a congressman for verbally abusing her. It illustrates, among other things, how labeling a strong woman a “bitch” and suggesting she is “other” is the bully's attempt to keep a woman out of what he falsely sees as his space. Her response shows how a strong woman confronts a bullying gatekeeper. This real life event resonates with aspects of the abusive actions towards women described by some of the contributors in this volume, reminding us that equality for women is still a work in progress.
Some of the discussants agree with Arlene Kramer Richards' thesis that the second wave feminist movement sparked a thought collective within psychoanalysis that led to the debunking of early Freudian ideas, such as anatomy is destiny, leading to the understanding that women were full human beings. Others are not so sure that the positive changes noted by Arlene Kramer Richards have led to substantive changes within various organizations and within our psyches. One person raises the question as to whether psychoanalysis has become women-dominated. Others question whether organizational psychoanalysis is up to the task of the changes necessary to widen its scope to welcome all forms of diversity. Arlene Kramer Richards' responses to each person illuminate her position vis-á-vis any controversy or disagreement raised here and advance the conversation.
In conclusion, as I think about this project and the time in which it was created—during the COVID 19 pandemic—I recognize that we were all more isolated from our community activities and professional social engagements. Thus for me these contributions were a welcome source of stimulation and particularly relevant given the current movement toward social justice. As I read the essays from the contributors here, I realized my good fortune in being a part of what I and many others also experienced, as a thought collective—an important subject discussed in this volume. On ending, I think about a New York Times column, “By
the Book“, where authors are interviewed about their work and literary interests. As part of the interview, they are asked what authors, living or dead, they would invite to a dinner party. All the authors who contributed here certainly would be on my list. I would also include Marcel Proust, Dorothy Parker and Pedro Almodóvar, fully realizing that they might be otherwise engaged, each for their creative voice and commitment to human rights.