The social psychological construction of gender plays a major role in the
definition and diagnosis of illness, timing and expression of symptoms,
treatment strategies, and theoretical explanations. Thus, mental illness is
as much a social as a personal event. Understanding, treating, and pre-
venting psychological dysfunction is conceptualized here to fall within
both self and social frameworks. The major feminist perspectives allocate
different levels of significance to self and social frameworks but collec-
tively offer a method for integrating many related issues.

In this chapter, basic feminist perspectives are reviewed, views of
women and the nature of male-female relationships are summarized and
contrasted with a model of androgyny. The following chapters on depres-
sion, use of psychotropic drugs, alcoholism, and eating disorders each
illustrate the complexity of integrating self and social events.

Divisions between various feminist perspectives are always arbitrary to
some degree, and other reviews have offered different classifications
( Firestone, 1970; Fee, 1975; Jagger & Struhl, 1978; Sayers, 1982). Indi-
vidual advocates typically incorporate perspectives, methods, and objec-
tives of more than one approach. Although there is considerable overlap
and blurring of boundaries, each perspective does have a general core that
distinguishes it from others. A more extensive version of this review is
also presented in volume I of this series but is reiterated here because
feminist analyses provide a valuable context in which to view the more
specialized theories of gender and mental health discussed in the follow-
ing chapters.

Liberal and radical positions can be partly distinguished by their focus on
the nature and source of differences between the sexes. The liberal posi-
tion holds that the biological basis for sex differences is minimal. Those
differences that do appear may be understood best in terms of the social
construction of gender and more generally in terms of sexism. Sexism is
defined as "the entire range of attitudes, beliefs, practices, policies, laws,
and behaviors discriminating against women (or against men) on the basis
of their gender" ( Safilios-Rothschild, 1974, p. 1). The main problem is
that society has segregated women and men in virtually all life experi-

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