"Freud, the Feminist?"

After reading Suzanne Brom’s Freud, the Feminist I got a new sense of Freud. It was interesting to read about him from this angle. This article focused on Freud and did an analysis on him and his treatments of women.

Scientists are subjective. The culture of scientists affects the way they do science. I think this is true not just for scientists, but for everyone. This is supported by Christopher Lasch in his book, The Culture of Narcissism, “the individual’s analysis tells us something about the inner workings of society itself, and personality is the reproduction of society in the individual.” No one can escape the affects of the culture they live in. the cultural biases and rules people are taught come from society and produce a person who fits and comes to understand that society’s inner workings.

This is very true for Sigmund Freud as well. He studied and worked in a time when women were very oppressed economically, politically, and sexually. “it was not appropriate to express sexual desire, even within the context of marriage… women’s genitalia were cloaked in secrecy and shame.” (Brom) They were also oppressed in their own homes.

Freud too would be expected to look at women the same way the rest of society does because it is the time they were living in with the paradigms they share. However after reading Suzanne Brom’s article, Freud treated women much differently. Instead of limiting and manipulating his female patients to change their ways to fit society, rather he accepted them and wanted to understand how they came to be. “His aim in the analysis, rather than converting her sexual preference, was to discover how the girl came to choose her love object… if a woman was comfortable with her choice of sexual object, her human possibilities were not limited.” This way of thinking was radical in that time period. It was radical, however it was liberating to the oppressed women. This article by Suzanne Brom gave a clear analysis on Freud’s treatment and relationship to women.

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/lynn_hershman_leeson.php?i=368