Could Freud Be a Feminist?

By Melissa

Suzanne Brown takes a closer look at Freud's view on women in her article, Freud, the Feminist?.  Many people have labeled Freud sexist, since most of his theories only pertain to the male half of our species. I believed that Freud didn't include include women because he was misogynistic. After reading this article, I believe I might have been slightly off about him.

The feminist critique of Freud centered on his almost glorification of the phallus and the neglect of female sexuality in his theory. Freud said, "While men's genital wee the objects of pride and power, women's were cloaked in secrecy and shame." Even though these critiques were posed against him, he still agreed not only to see female patients but females suffering from hysteria. These women were considered to poses a very low social status. 

Freud believe that these women suffering from hysteria had unfulfilled possibilities and suffered this mental illness as a consequence. Hysteria was seen a a " feminine neurosis", but Freud acknowledged that men could be affected as well. Freud not only treated these women but also labeled some of them gifted. This in itself proves that he was an advocate for women. 

He appreciated women who did not fit into social norms. These individuals processing a type of freedom from societies imposed standards which he almost admired them for. He respected some of the women he treated, the same as if they were a man. He took his female patients seriously and didn't strip them of their humanity because of their neurosis. Unlike many other therapists of his time, Freud did not use his therapeutic skills to manipulate his female patients into filling the oppressive standards that society paces out for them. Instead of trying to change them, he spent his time trying to discover how they came to be the way they were.

He was one of the first therapists to formulate an explanation of women's sexuality. By doing so, he took a step in becoming the voice on behalf of women's sexuality which was so repressed by his culture. Freud made the argument that sex was a natural thing, which helped to free women's sexuality. I believe he was right in these notions. Underneath it all, I think Freud was a bit of a feminist but didn't openly broadcast it because he didn't want his contributions to the psychiatric field to be discredited.