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This collection of essays, winner of a 2023 Gradiva® Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, is a welcome exploration and development of the troubled but fertile intersections between feminism, queer theory, trans theory, and psychoanalysis. The editors’ proposal of “a hypothesis of cross-pollination of feminism, psychoanalysis and trans* discourses to launch a conversation without suspicion or exclusion” (p. 2) is a generous and ethical one. The book is situated in the societal “now,” with frequent references to Donald Trump, the #MeToo moment, social media, and neocapitalism, and it applies psychoanalytic critique to contemporary ethical and political problems. It contains important contributions from established writers and introduces exciting new contributors. It is therefore a book that might be picked up from the shelf with keen anticipation by anyone already conversant with this productive field, as well as by a scholar of queer or trans theory wishing to engage with psychoanalysis, or a psychoanalyst interested in exploring queer and trans theory.
In putting together a volume for a diverse set of potential readers, the editors had to contend with two potential problems. First, there is the issue of what Calvin Thomas describes in his contribution as the “old sad story in psychoanalysis”: sometimes, its “formulations … participate in what they illuminate” (p. 244). In other words, psychoanalysis might be a powerful tool for trans, feminist, and queer theorists, but it has often been used theoretically—and clinically—to reproduce the very cis normative, patriarchal, and heteronormative structures that it describes so incisively. Second, the editors and invited authors write primarily from the field of Lacanian psychoanalysis. This field has emerged as one of the strands of psychoanalytic theory most deeply engaged with issues around gender and sexuality in the past decade but is notoriously difficult to access for those not st