Hysteria in a Man's World

By: Chris Valletta

Suzanne Brom of Duquesne University wrote a fabulous and thought provoking essay titled "Freud, The Feminist" in which she analyzes Freud's true perception on females, contrary to popular belief. Some argue that Freud neglected female sexuality in his psychoanalytic practices, where as Brom argues that Freud in fact had an admiration for women and encouraged women and their sexuality. The setting was in the Victorian era, where women were not even allowed to express their sexual desire even in the context of their marriage. In contrast the male sex organ was depicted as a symbol of pride and power. In fact, women were not even allowed to divorce their husband, no matter how the husband treated her.

The analysis of hysteria is brought to the center of attention in regards to Freud and his feminist attributes. Hysteria was something thought of to be exclusively only to women, however Freud contended that men too could also be affected by this. This view was widely held by feminists who argued that both men and women were equally susceptible in many areas, including hysteria. Brom gives several examples of Freud's treatment to women, starting with Miss Lucy, who was committed to her children, but also in love with their father. Even though she may have wanted to leave them for personal reasons, the strength of the family kept her there and this led to repression from her resulted hysteria. In response, Freud confirmed the intense care that Miss Lucy had for her family.

In the case of Fraulein Elisabeth, she let go of the love of her life to take care of her sick father. After living in 18 months of seclusion in a bleak situation, she began to have hysteria. As Freud treated her, it is imperative to note that he did not limit this woman into any cultural roles, as almost any other male in this era would have done. He also encouraged and believed her sincere love for her family and this other man. This also provides an example of Brom's general thesis on Freud's feminist qualities, displaying that all of these women were outspoken and intelligent, yet Freud still treated them fairly and equally. This is a tremendous quality attributed to Freud and certainly a key element to being successful at treating one's patients. Freud was able to look past sex and see the people for who they were.

Rather than looking to change the women for their feelings and actions, Freud looked to see how they became this way and why. Thus, helping the patient figure out who they are and to be proud of that fact. Through his patients, Freud began to undertake an explanation of women's sexuality, and simply by doing so acknowledged that women in fact did have sexuality and that it was repressed by the culture. The difference between him and everyone else was that Freud began to see sex as a natural thing, which would definitely calm down women as they came to Freud to discuss any sexual issues. This is in contrast to the rest of society, where it was forbidden for women to even realize that this desire within them existed. Brom truly shed light on Sigmund Freud for me through this article because I had never read anything about him from a different perspective other than his own writings. The fact that he looked at things so objectively in an era where the opposite was taking place shows how gifted and open-minded he was in analyzing the effects of pleasure and desire that we struggle through everyday of our lives.