Despite changes in attitude toward women in society, there is still interpersonal and intrapsychic ambivalence toward competitive women. Conflict between a desire to connect and a wish to stand out can be particularly unacceptable in relation to other women, especially those who might be friends. In any analytic work, historical constructions and relational/intersubjective exploration can be both useful and also used defensively. A clinical example illustrates some of the ways that traditional analytic techniques can reinforce unrecognized defenses against disruptive competitive impulses in a psychoanalytic dyad composed of two women who might, in other circumstances, have been friends.