Feminist Psychology

Feminist psychology is vigorous, creative, and increasingly activist. This volume reflects women's diversity and incorporates strategies for social action and opportunities for political activism. It anticipates trends and developments in the psychology of women and feminist psychology. Chapters include those about women and self-esteem, leadership skills, welfare reform, spirituality, and domestic violence. The emphasis on social activism is unique. Unusual and cutting-edge research methodologies and techniques are also discussed.

Building on the revolutionary work of feminist scholars who have described how women employ strategies of knowing the world in a manner distinct from men, Laura S. Brown, noted for her pioneering work in the field of ethics and boundaries, shows how these insights should reshape the very nature of the therapeutic encounter. Therapy must be understood as an opportunity to help clients see the relationships between their behavior and the patriarchal society in which we are all embedded. Viewed in this light, feminist therapy affords both practitioner and client a chance to subvert the system in which women's lives have been devalued. This powerful vision of feminist therapy is grounded throughout with case examples that illustrate how a dialogue between therapist and client can be healing, subversive, and transformative all at once.

In a lively, often surprising history, Buhle reveals that the 20th century's two great theories of liberation--psychoanalysis and feminism--actually have a great deal to tell each other. Ambitious and highly engaging, "Feminism and Its Discontents" brings together far-flung intellectual tendencies rarely seen in intimate relation to each other--and shows readers a new way of seeing both.

Leaders in feminist psychology have increasingly stressed the need to pay greater attention to cultural diversity among women and to integrate this awareness into teaching, theory building, research, and practice. This book responds by focusing on the empirical and practice based implications of recognizing such diversity in the psychology of women. Areas explored include child development and gender socialization, psychotherapy and clinical supervision, health psychology, and contemporary issues such as sexual harassment and pornography.