Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities: Freud and Beyond

145 Pages·1994·6.513 MB·English

by  Nancy Chodorow

Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities
The Blazer Lectures for 1990
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FEMININITIES,
MASCULINITIES,
SEXUALITIES
FREUD AND BEYOND
Nancy J. Chodorow
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Copyright © 1994 by Nancy J. Chodorow
Published by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Kentucky
Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State
University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania
University, University of Kentucky, University of
Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.
Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
Chapter 1 appeared in an earlier form in Jerome Neu, ed.,
The Cambridge Companion to Freud (Cambridge and New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1991), copyright © 1991 by
Nancy J. Chodorow. Chapter 2 appeared in earlier form in
Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought 15 (1992),
copyright © 1992 by Nancy J. Chodorow.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chodorow, Nancy.
Femininities, masculinities, sexualities: Freud and beyond /
Nancy J. Chodorow.
p. cm.—(The Blazer lectures ; 1990)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-8131-0828-5
1. Sex (Psychology) 2. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939.
3. Psychoanalysis. I. Title. II. Series.
BF175.5.S48C47 1994
155.3'33—dc20 93-39481
This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ©
Contents
Foreword Richard C. Edwards vii vii
Preface ix ix
1. Rethinking Freud on Women 1
2. Heterosexuality as a Compromise
Formation 33 33
3. Individuality and Difference in
How Women and Men Love 70
Notes 93
References 115
Index 127
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Foreword
Sigmund Freud continues to fascinate, irritate, and
stimulate social thinkers a century after he initiated his
psychoanalytic studies. Some credit him with having
revealed to us the previously hidden dynamics of the un-
conscious, and they see his monumental discoveries as
no less significant than those his contemporaries were
making about the structure of the atom or relativity.
Others—and this strain has been evident in some recent
scholarship—blame him for opportunist, even craven,
theorizing and sloppy, perhaps unscrupulous clinical
technique. Freud's cultural and especially his gender bi-
ases have long been lamented. Critics of psychoanalysis
argue that its propositions remain without significant
experimental or epidemiological support.
Why, then, do Freud and psychoanalysis continue to
draw so much attention? Nancy Chodorow's writings,
including this provocative volume, begin to explain this
interest. Chodorow, perhaps the preeminent theorist in
psychoanalytic feminism, burst upon the world's intel-
lectual salons a decade and a half ago with her path-
breaking The Reproduction of Mothering. In the years
since, she has developed with increasing power her views
on the intersections of gender, sexuality, and psychoanal-
ysis.
In this volume, Chodorow examines two related ques-
tions: First, what role does or should difference or varia-
tion between individuals play in our understanding of
psychoanalytic theory as related to sexuality—a typi-
viii Foreword
cally (for Chodorow) bold question, since psychoanalysis
has been handed down to us with what she rightly de-
scribes as "seemingly universalizing gender theories/'
Second, how should we understand the supposedly nor-
mative status of heterosexuality? Her answers to these
questions are, again typically, surprising, controversial,
and provocative.
Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities grows out of
Professor Chodorow's 1990 Blazer Lectures at the Uni-
versity of Kentucky. The Blazer Series, made possible by
generous grants from the Paul G. and Georgia M. Blazer
Fund and the Blazer family, have long enriched campus
life, and we are grateful for their support.
Richard Edwards
Dean of Arts and Sciences
The University of Kentucky
Preface
In April 1990 I was privileged to present the Blazer Lec-

tures at the University of Kentucky. As seems to be endur-
ingly the case in my work, I reflected upon sex, gender,
and psychoanalysis. This volume ties together some of
those reflections. In particular, I address two empirical,
ideological, and political issues that have concerned psy-
choanalytic feminists and feminist psychoanalysts in re-
cent years. The first of these issues pertains to the ques-
tion of difference and variation, against the seemingly
universalizing gender theories of psychoanalysis. The
second involves the normative status of heterosexuality
in psychoanalysis and the historical uses of psychoanaly-
sis in clinical, political, cultural, and ideological differ-
entiating, excluding, and pathologizing alternative sex-
ualities.
To address these questions, I investigate psychoanalyt-
ic constructions of femininities, masculinities, and sexu-
alities. I read psychoanalytic texts through the lens of
clinical experience to see whether these texts and this ex-
perience can yield insight into diversity and individual-
ity which bypasses normative or universalizing concep-
tions. Through these investigations I hope to open up new
spaces for addressing feminist concerns. My conclusions
in the first two chapters rely mainly upon readings of spe-
cific psychoanalytic texts, but my increasing certainty
about the importance of context, specificity, and person-
al individuality grows principally not from these texts
but from my clinical observation of the extraordinary