Blog

The importance of the human thought process Since the introduction of the second wave of feminist psychology, almost 50 years ago now, a central issue has been the deconstruction and dissolution of many of our systems of binary thought and…

The big book Psychiatric Diagnosis as a Cultural Phenomenon Today I want to clarify for those who are not familiar with the underlying substrate shakily holding up the institution of diagnosis. The large American bible of diagnosis is known as…

What If You Were That Frog? There was a time not so many years ago when domestic violence was considered to be an extreme rarity. There was no point in reporting it to the authorities, who also believed it to…

Our basic problem Despite the decades of discussion about the objectification of women’s bodies and appearance, the essence of toxic masculinity continues. Boys are still learning that what matters most about a woman is her appearance. The Internet has permitted…

Do we still need feminism? When I taught the very first class in feminist therapy at UC, Berkeley in 1973, the room was filled with enthusiastic students who wanted to tell their own stories and who wanted a fair hearing.…

Feminist therapy discovers the truth Early feminist therapists were to discover the importance of the simple unvarnished truth. Not a therapy stance that interpreted for the client what she really meant, really wanted or really was fantasizing about. Not an…

How we overcame masculinist therapy for women This is the second in my series about the development of feminism in conjunction with therapy. Here I will restate and reinforce my point that feminism is now part and parcel of every…

What does feminism have to do with psychotherapy? In the early 1970’s, a lifetime ago for the oldest of us and a moment in ancient history for the younger among us, feminist psychotherapy was born. It was born of necessity.…

Do we still need a special day for women? I am writing this week’s blog on International Women’s Day. You might think that a special day to focus on women should no longer be necessary. Surely women and girls are…

Maybe not yet There is a very public struggle going on between older and younger feminists and it is centered, as it has been before, on the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. Against my own better judgment, I have a few…