Freud: The Feminist?

This is Sarah. Suzanne Brown’s Freud: The Feminist? was by far the most interesting work I have read for class so far. Freud decided to dismiss the cultural norms of his time and study women’s sexuality completely objectively. Brown’s analysis of Freud’s work gives the reader great insight into Freud’s studies. This paper depicts two of Freud’s studies of women’s sexualities: the studies on hysteria and the studies on homosexuality.

Keep in mind that Freud’s work was done in a time where women were extremely oppressed. Even in marriage, they were forced to repress their sexual desires. Homosexuality was simply not discussed, let alone studied. In my opinion, Freud was a radical way ahead of his time. He was solely intrigued by what women’s pleasures derive from. Nothing was off limits.

Brown first analyzes Freud’s studies on hysteria.  One particular case study involved a woman named Frau Emmy. Frau Emmy was a woman who suffered many deaths and her family and always seemed to put others before herself. According to Freud, Frau Emmy is the epitome of the Victorian woman: depressed and oppressed. Freud seemed to sympathize with the women he studied.  He states, “Here, then, was the unhappy story of this proud girl with her longing for love. Unreconciled to her fate, embittered by the failure of all her little schemes for re-establishing the family’s former glories, with those she loved gone away or estranged, unready to take refuge in the arms of some unknown man—she had lived almost eighteen months in complete seclusion, with nothing to occupy her but the care of her mother and her own pains (Freud, 1909, pp. 143-144).  Freud also believed that these “degenerates” had something to contribute to society and believed in their potential.

Freud’s ideals can also be applied to the expectations of women regarding morality and norms in today’s society. Although, these expectations are not as extreme as during the Victorian Era, women today are still extremely oppressed. Women are gaining economic and social power, however they are still expected to live up to society’s standards of looking perfect and keeping their house spotless. It is simply unrealistic. In regards to sexuality, women today are also exploited and defined by their bodies. Sex is such a prevalent part of our culture today. Young girls are misleading sexual attention as positive attention and supplementing physical appearance for intelligence. Too bad history repeats itself..