The rejection of Freudian psychoanalysis within the feminist movement is the focus of this paper. Freud was a realist; as such, he early on countered the optimistically formulated propositions about the fundamental parity of the genders circulating within the psychoanalytic movement. He described the existing amalgamations of pleasure and power which occur differentially in the psychosexual development of the two genders. However, the focus of psychoanalytic concern upon individual life histories has led to the neglect of the collective oppression to which women are subject in our society. Feminist protest has revealed specific difficulties which female patients experience in psychoanalysis and has demonstrated that psychotherapeutic ideals of health and definitions of illness are in latent complicity with the patriarchical status quo.