The Psychology of Today's Woman: New Psychoanalytic Visions. Toni Bernay and Dorothy W. Cantor, editors. New Jersey:  The Analytic Press, 1986.  377 pp.

Toni Bernay and Dorothy Cantor have edited an important book. This group of articles by contributors versed in both psychoanalytic concepts and contemporary insights into feminine psychology has been aptly subtitled “new psychoanalytic visions.” What becomes clear as “new” for women is the integration of aggression and sexuality in the construction of identity. Althea Horner notes in the foreword that women have been stereotyped as masochistic because they have been trained to “preserve the sense of self as good at all costs, fearful of the rage that lies on the other side of the split.” The current atmosphere—at least in the United States—offers “opportunity and choice as to how to live our one and only life when these two threads of our humanity can be woven together in harmony.”

In their introduction, Bernay and Cantor state their purpose to be that of working toward an “expanded perspective for understanding women,” one which “encompasses the female experience” rather than devalues it. The articles achieve that purpose.

The opening essay reassesses traditional ideas about femininity. Helen Block Lewis reviews Freud's contributions in the context of their historical discovery and their sexism, while also pointing to those of his ideas which have been useful and lasting contributions to women's liberation. She cites important modern anthropological evidence that would alter Freud's views regarding femininity.

In the second chapter, Eleanor Galenson reports on recent research into the sexual development of young girls. After reviewing