labrys, études féministes/ estudos feministas
juillet /décembre / 2014  -julho/dezembro 2014

Introduction

Feminism and Psychology

valeska zanello

Since the 60/70's, feminisms have contributed to several matters in the areas of Human and Social Sciences. These contributions have not only inflated further researches, but also put in check epistemological assumptions that used to be invisibilized. If the impact of feminism and gender studies are evident in some areas of knowledge such as anthropology and sociology, they can still be considered incipient in the field of Psychologies.

In general, the reflections on gender studies and Psychologies are more related to the use of the category "gender", among others, as a factor to be analyzed in a particular object of research. However, I understand that from a feminist perspective gender studies can and should lead to a radical review of the theories with which we work and, above all, to open up new ones about our fields of research and practices that used to be unimaginable.

In this sense, the Psychology(ies) has a big challenge ahead: to explicit the gender-naturalizing epistemological assumptions, still very present in most of our theories, whether in clinical, development, basic psychological processes or social area. If psychology is constituted as a possible place of reviews to the reifying practices of the subject and of organicists nature, such as those often present in psychiatric practice, on the other hand there are risks in performing a process of "psychologizing" that is, in some aspects, analogous to what it criticizes in other domains.

 I consider the "psychologization" as a large, open via to the pathologization and naturalization of gender. Not only in cases where this happens most clearly through a certain differentiation of what is considered standard, but exactly the opposite, where it is more invisible, in the individual considered "normal", a standard man or woman, for example. 

As a clinical, I would like to give an example, in my area, of where it can be quite evident. It's motherhood. Despite Badinter having written her book, The myth of maternal love, more than two decades ago, this is a myth that survives in psychological, psychiatric and legal practice. Consider the following situation: A woman, mother of a child of seven years, seeks psychological help and in the first session reports feel no pleasure in being a mother, showing regret for not having aborted and plenty of guilt for the lack of "maternal" feelings for the child.

How would the listening to that complaint and suffering of that woman be? With nearly 20 years of experience as a clinical and at least 10 as a supervisor, I think it is unlikely that the first thoughts that occur are not such as: is she depressed? Why is she so disconnected from her child? She must have a problem / difficulty with her own mother / mothering received, and so on.  What interests me to emphasize here is that out of ALL the hypotheses raised, one untouched assumption remains: the myth of the maternal love.

What remains is an unshaken certainty that "normal" is that a woman loves her son and is capable of performing in motherhood. I draw attention to the unfolding in practice that invisibilities like that have perpetuated. Without feminists listening and look, we run the risk of being sentinels of repetition and reaffirmation of gender values. In this sense, it becomes more urgent that we take for us as psychologists, the contributions of feminisms and gender theories and put in check our knowledge and practices. The hope is that after this "encounter", we can take on the inescapably political character of Psychology(ies).

Participate in this dossier researchers involved in feminist and gender studies within their practices and reflections on Psychologies. There are 10 articles composing this edition that revolve around the themes of mental health intervention and research methodology, epistemology of psychoanalysis, intersectionalities, analysis of research output in psychology and feminism/gender, popular knowledge, conjugalities and theories of development. The authors come from different Brazilian and foreign Universities.

labrys, études féministes/ estudos feministas
juillet /décembre / 2014  -julho/dezembro 2014