Sexuality and Gender Now: Moving Beyond Heteronormativity

359 Pages·2020·6.575 MB·English

by  Leezah Hertzmann, Juliet Newbigin

“Thisrichcollectionwillbewidelywelcomedasamuch-neededadvance
inopeningupanddevelopingmainstreampsychoanalyticthinkingabout
gender, sex, and sexuality, after the British Psychoanalytic Council’s
‘moving on’ statement of 2011. The critical deconstruction of heteronor-
mativity is achieved without discarding all that is essential and valuable
about psychoanalytic theorising and method. The commitment to a more
open-mindedand self-reflectiveapproach shinesthroughthediverseand
highly nuanced clinical accounts. This book will be an essential part of
psychoanalyticeducationandinvaluabletothemanyclinicianswhowant
tothinkdifferentlyabouttheirpractice.”
—JoannaRyan,Ph.D.,
SiteforContemporaryPsychoanalysis;co-author(with
NoreenO’Connor)ofWildDesiresandMistakenIdentities:
LesbianismandPsychoanalysis(Routledge,2003)
“The fields of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, like societies at large
around the world, recognise that it is difficult to integrate rapidly devel-
oping ideas of identity, especially gender identities and sexualities, with-
out falling back on normative models. This challenge is daunting, and
has been side-stepped for too long. It has the potential to be genuinely
creative for our field and for those we try to help. The editors of this
book are both experienced therapists with the essential qualities of lively
engagement, compassion and wisdom, together with the openness to
bring together a diverse set of contributors. They include a long contri-
bution from a brave patient, who brings alive for us the experience of
recognizing and crystallizing a transgender identity. The wide range of
perspectives will give all readers further understanding, and – as with
all good books – still more to understand.”
—Professor Mary Target (now Hepworth),
Psychoanalysis Unit, Research Department of Clinical,
Educational and Health Psychology, University College London;
Fellow, British Psychoanalytical Society
“In this innovative book, Hertzmann and Newbigin bring together a
diverse group of authors who show us how far we have come and how
much more we have yet to do in the reappraisal of psychoanalytic theor-
ies of gender and sexuality. They address theoretical and clinical issues
of desire and gender in the consulting room, in the children's clinic, in
supervision, and in the emotional life of clinicians as well as patients,
helping us to recognize complexities of desire and gender previously
obscured. Most usefully, the authors do not simply provide new rules
and categories to render gender and sexuality coherent, or to regulate or
liberate desires and identities. Instead, they point the way for clinicians
and patients to explore the complexities of conscious and unconscious
meaning in personal experiences of gender and sexuality. Readers will
expand their vocabularies and find helpful suggestions for working with
patients whose subjectivities may at first feel unfamiliar. For example,
cis therapists new to working with trans patients will find help in get-
ting oriented. They will also be helped to challenge their own limitations
of theoretical understanding and categorization, to expand and deepen
their range of meaning-making, and to appreciate the advantages of
uncertainty—for the benefit of clinical explorations with their own
patients.”
—Paul E. Lynch, M.D.,
Psychoanalyst, Boston, MA, USA; Faculty, Boston
Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Massachusetts
Institute for Psychoanalysis, and China America Psychoanalytic
Alliance; co-editor, with Alessandra Lemma, of Sexualities:
Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2015)
SEXUALITY AND GENDER NOW
Sexuality and Gender Now uses a psychoanalytic approach to arrive at a more informed
viewoftheexperienceandrelationshipsofthosewhosesexualityandgendermaynotalign
with the heterosexual “norm”. This book confronts the heteronormative bias dominant in
psychoanalysis,usingacombinationoftheoreticalandclinicalmaterial,offeringanimport-
anttrainingtoolaswellasbeingrelevantforpracticingclinicians.
Thecontributorsaddresstheshiftcliniciansmustmakenotonlytosupporttheirpatientsin
amoreinformedandnon-prejudicialway,butalsotorecognisetheirownneedforsup-
portindevelopingtheirclinicalthinking.Theychallengeassumptions,deconstructtheor-
eticalideas, extendpsychoanalyticconcepts,and,importantly, showhowclinicianscan
attend to their pre-conscious assumptions. They also explore the issue of erotic transfer-
ence and countertransference, which, if unaddressed, can limit the possibilities for sup-
porting patients more fully to explore their sexuality and gender. Theories of
psychosexuality have tended to become split off from the main field of psychoanalytic
thought and practice or read from an assumed moral high ground of heteronormativity.
Thebookspecificallyaddressesthisbiasandintroducesnewwaysofusingpsychoanalytic
ideas.Thecontributorsadvocateawiderandmoreflexibleattitudetosexualityingeneral,
whichcanilluminateanunderstandingofallsexualities,includingheterosexuality.
SexualityandGenderNowwillbeessentialreadingforprofessionalsandstudentsofpsy-
choanalysiswhowanttobroadentheirunderstandingofsexualityandgenderintheirclin-
icalpracticebeyondheteronormativeassumptions.
LeezahHertzmannisaseniorcoupleandindividualpsychoanalyticpsychotherapistat
the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and in private practice. She has a
career long interest in psychoanalytic theory and technique with LGBTQI populations
and is a member of the British Psychoanalytic Council special advisory group on
sexual diversity. In 2015, Leezah was the recipient of the British Psychoanalytic Coun-
cilAwardforInnovation.Sheteachesandpublisheswidely.
Juliet Newbigin is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with a long-standing interest in the
impact of the wider social context on the development of individual identity within the
family.Shehasbeenparticularlyconcernedaboutthetroubledhistoryoftheheteronorma-
tive understanding of sexual orientation in both psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis, and
theirfailuretorecognisetheexperienceoftheLGBTQIcommunity.Shecurrentlychairsthe
BritishPsychoanalyticCouncil’sAdvisoryGrouponSexualandGenderDiversity.
Tavistock Clinic Series
MargotWaddell,Jocelyn Catty,&KateStratton(SeriesEditors)
Recent titles in the Tavistock Clinic Series
DoingThingsDifferently:TheInfluenceofDonaldMeltzeronPsychoanalyticTheoryand
Practice,editedbyMargaretCohen&AlbertoHahn
InsideLives:PsychoanalysisandtheGrowthofthePersonality,byMargotWaddell
InternalLandscapesandForeignBodies:EatingDisordersandOtherPathologies,by
GiannaWilliams
LivingontheBorder:PsychoticProcessesintheIndividual,theCouple,andtheGroup,
editedbyDavidBell&AleksandraNovakovic
MakingRoomforMadnessinMentalHealth:ThePsychoanalyticUnderstandingof
PsychoticCommunication,byMarcusEvans
MelanieKleinRevisited:PioneerandRevolutionaryinthePsychoanalysisofYoung
Children,bySusanSherwin-White
NewDiscoveriesinChildPsychotherapy:FindingsfromQualitativeResearch,editedby
MargaretRustin&MichaelRustin
OedipusandtheCouple,editedbyFrancisGrier
OnAdolescence:InsideStories,byMargotWaddell
OrganizationintheMind:Psychoanalysis,GroupRelations,andOrganizational
Consultancy,byDavidArmstrong,editedbyRobertFrench
PsychoanalysisandCulture:AKleinianPerspective,editedbyDavidBell
ResearchingtheUnconscious:PrinciplesofPsychoanalyticMethod,byMichaelRustin
ReasonandPassion:ACelebrationoftheWorkofHannaSegal,editedbyDavidBell
Short-TermPsychoanalyticPsychotherapyforAdolescentswithDepression:ATreatment
Manual,editedbyJocelynCatty
SiblingMatters:APsychoanalytic,Developmental,andSystemicApproach,editedby
DebbieHindle&SusanSherwin-White
SocialDefencesagainstAnxiety:ExplorationsinaParadigm,editedbyDavidArmstrong&
MichaelRustin
SurvivingSpace:PapersonInfantObservation,editedbyAndrewBriggs
TalkingCure:MindandMethodoftheTavistockClinic,editedbyDavidTaylor
TheAnorexicMind,byMarilynLawrence
TheGroupsBook.PsychoanalyticGroupTherapy:PrinciplesandPractice,editedby
CarolineGarland
TherapeuticCareforRefugees:NoPlaceLikeHome,editedbyRenosPapadopoulos
TherapeuticApproacheswithBabiesandYoungChildreninCare:Observationand
Attention,byJeniferWakelyn
ThinkingSpace:PromotingThinkingaboutRace,Culture,andDiversityinPsychotherapy
andBeyond,editedbyFrankLowe
TowardsBelonging:NegotiatingNewRelationshipsforAdoptedChildrenandThosein
Care,editedbyAndrewBriggs
TurningtheTide:APsychoanalyticApproachtoMentalIllness.TheWorkoftheFitzjohn’s
Unit,editedbyRaelMeyerowitz&DavidBell
UnderstandingTrauma:APsychoanalyticApproach,editedbyCarolineGarland
WaitingtoBeFound:PapersonChildreninCare,editedbyAndrewBriggs
“WhatCantheMatterBe?”:TherapeuticInterventionswithParents,Infants,andYoung
Children,editedbyLouiseEmanuel&ElizabethBradley
YoungChildObservation:ADevelopmentintheTheoryandMethodofInfant
Observation,editedbySimonettaM.G.Adamo&MargaretRustin
SEXUALITY AND
GENDER NOW
Moving Beyond
Heteronormativity
Edited by
Leezah Hertzmann &
Juliet Newbigin
Firstpublished2020
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
52VanderbiltAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2020selectionandeditorialmatter,LeezahHertzmannandJulietNewbigin;indi-
vidualchapters,thecontributors
TherightofLeezahHertzmannandJulietNewbigintobeidentifiedastheauthorof
theeditorialmaterial,andoftheauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeen
assertedinaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatents
Act1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilised
inanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownor
hereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformation
storageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintentto
infringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Hertzmann,Leezah,1963-editor.|Newbigin,Juliet,1948-editor.
Title:Sexualityandgendernow:movingbeyondheteronormativity/editedby
LeezahHertzmannandJulietNewbigin.
Description:MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon;NewYork,NY:Routledge,2019.|
Series:Tavistockclinicseries|Includesbibliographicalreferences.
Identifiers:LCCN2019011792(print)|LCCN2019012930(ebook)|
ISBN9780429287633(Master)|ISBN9781000022643(Adobe)|ISBN9781000022797
(Mobipocket)|ISBN9781000022940(ePub)|ISBN9780367254100
(hardback:alk.paper)|ISBN9781782205296(pbk.:alk.paper)
Subjects:LCSH:Sexualminorities—Mentalhealth.|
Sexualminorities—Counselingof.|Sexualorientation—Psychologicalaspects.|
Sexrole—Psychologicalaspects.|Culturalpsychiatry.|Psychotherapy.
Classification:LCCRC451.4.G39(ebook)|LCCRC451.4.G39S472019(print)|
DDC616.890086/6—dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019011792
ISBN:978-0-367-25410-0(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-78220-529-6(pbk)
ISBN:978-0-429-28763-3(ebk)
TypesetinPalatino
bySwales&Willis,Exeter,Devon,UK
“ ”
Note about the cover image: The Moon and Sleep by
–
Simeon Solomon (1840 1905)
Solomon was a British painter, associated with the Pre-Raphaelite
Movement. He was initially successful, but his career never recovered
from two prosecutions and brief periods of imprisonment in 1873 and
1874, for having sex with men. This painting dates from 1894, oil on
canvas, 514 x 762 mm. It was presented to the TATE collection by Miss
Margery Abrahams in memory of Dr Bertram L. Abrahams and Jane
Abrahams in 1973.

CONTENTS
’
SERIESEDITORS PREFACE xi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xv
ABOUTTHECONTRIBUTORS xvii
Introduction 1
LeezahHertzmann&JulietNewbigin
I
Sexandtheconsultingroom
1 Sexandtheconsultingroom 19
JulietNewbigin
2 Homophobia,heteronormativity,andshame 40
PoulRohleder
3 Workingwithsamenessanddifference:reflectionson
supervisionwithdiversesexualities 57
DavidRichards
ix