Freud on Females

This is Jamie.

            After reading Suzanne Brom’s “Freud, the Feminist?”  I learned yet another reason why Freud is one of the most significant and influential players in the history of psychology. 

            I am actually not too surprised to see this view of Freud as a feminist because based on his work he attempted to explain the repressed feelings of human beings.  Because of his dedication to this notion, it is easy to see that he would be understanding of the repressed feelings of women although it was not of popular concern.  Women during the Victorian era and the oppression they faced was a psychological goldmine for Freud to analyze.  Women were never to speak of or act on their desires whether it pertained to sexuality or otherwise.  They were treated as tools for men and almost as robots for household duties and child bearing.  This is repression to the extreme.   

            Brom gives thorough examples of Freud’s apparent Feminism in his book, Studies on Hysteria.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Freud took female repression and sexuality very seriously.  He treated their cases similar to how he would treat that of a man. I think it was important that instead of trying to convert their sexual desires like the girl with homosexual inclinations, he attempted to understand what it is that caused her to come to those feelings.  Freud recognized that the “hysteria” these women were experiencing was based on experiences and troubles that they had endured.  He acknowledged that women and men alike were vulnerable to hysteria based on experience and their respect is equally deserved to both in the discussion and analysis of the matter.

             Freud gave women a voice where they had never had it before.  For the first time they were able to express their culturally repressed feelings of sexuality without being stifled. Freud was in fact grateful to the women who were able to freely discuss sex so naturally as opposed to the “prudish ladies” of the practice he was used to.  It actually liberated him to hear such openness on a subject that had continually been quieted.