Brom on Freud

Jennifer:

Photo courtesy of blog.syracuse.com

Suzanne Brom’s Freud, the Feminist? gives us an analytical and rather uncommon perspective on Freud’s work. Although I had not read much of Freud before beginning this class, I was, nevertheless, well aware of some women’s opinions on him. Their word to describe him was not exactly “feminist”.  Actually, many had drastically opposing opinions.

In her essay, Brom does a commendable job showing us that although Freud may have made a few mistakes during his time, he did for the most part admire women. Brom points out that during the time he was working with the women, the majority of society held women to a very low standard and even worked to repress their desires. According to Brom, “It was not appropriate to express sexual desire, even within the context of marriage” (pg 1). However, Freud encouraged the women he worked with to be open with him in expressing such desires.

Brom argues that Freud appreciated his “hysterical patients”. She suggests that this is because they did not fit into socially imposed standards. For instance, he was deeply impressed with Frau Emmy and her unusual intelligence and “love of truth”. At first glance, I, too, was insulted by how he described Emmy’s qualities (her “unusual intelligence), as if they were unheard of in women. However, after further contemplation, I realized it is important to keep the time period in which he wrote in mind. In that sense, I feel he may have been trying to put forth his opinion to his peers and his audience in a way that would cause the least amount of turbulence.