At the beginning of the novel, while reflecting on her less-than-satisfactory experiences in therapy, Isadora recalls interrogating her cluelessly misogynistic counselor during a particularly infuriating session.
"Why should I listen to you about what it means to be a woman? Are you a woman? Why shouldn't I listen to myself for once? And to other women?" (25)
This quote clearly points to the lack of female perspectives in psychological research and psychoanalytic theorizing. Ever since Freud began producing his theories about the unconscious mind and the origin of psychopathy-- essentially claiming that everything points to sexual repression-- the field of psychoanalysis has been dominated by male perspectives on sexuality. In his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud makes a number of mostly-unfounded assumptions about female sexuality; he admitted later that there were a lot of things he could never figure out about the female libido and women's sexual development.
Because of the gross gender imbalance in the field of psychoanalysis (which has only started to right itself in relatively recent times), women such as Isadora were forced to hear themselves evaluated in terms of male-generated postulations about how women are "supposed" to operate. A lot of our culture's thoughts about female sexuality are still based on what Freud and other ambitious male psychoanalysts claimed to be true. Thus, Isadora's frustration with her therapist is certainly understandable; after all, why should she trust what a therapist says about her over what she feels about herself?
Further, why should any woman trust what men say about women over what women say about women?
Well, why should we? It would be interesting for you to address this question more in your blog. Perhaps not justifying why but exploring why we do follow external definitions of gender and what it means. Another consideration: what makes women's ideas of femininity so much more trustworthy than men's? As women, we might try to define ourselves separately from and not in terms of man, but is this even possible?
ReplyDeleteI really liked the quote that you picked out. Your analysis seems to be right on point and you do appear to really understand your Freud. I think that it is interesting how you assert taht "Because of the gross gender imbalance in the field of psychoanalysis (which has only started to right itself in relatively recent times), women such as Isadora were forced to hear themselves evaluated in terms of male-generated postulations about how women are "supposed" to operate." Do you think that there are other things/people besides psychologists who determine what a woman is? I find that entertainment and writing has had a large role in shaping what a woman is to me. This is also something that Jong points out in her book: there are few female authors who address women's sex needs. What do you think that the magazine Cosmo has done for women?
ReplyDeleteI liked your point about how she is frustrated with her therapist because she trusts what she thinks about herself. It reminded me of the idea that people oftentimes never know themselves well, but when someone who knows them, describes them, they in fact understand that person better than that person understands their own self. This is often because people from the outside see people for their actions, whereas we see our selves as the result of situations, emotions, and decisions.
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