The changes in the way psychoanalysts theorize female psychology was in large part the result of changes that occurred in the context of the sex and gender movements of the last half of the 20th century. This article addresses the covert ways in which women sought to express power prior to women's liberation. It draws on psychoanalytic theory, emphasizing the study of power in conjunction with discourse theory in order to illustrate the complex ways change draws on both inner psychic impulses and changes in the cultural milieu.