Feminist Therapy

 Similar to the psychodynamic week, before reading anything, I was attracted to feminist therapy and thought I might align with its principles well. I was wrong. I don't mean to be so negative and pessimistic toward these theories, but I am surprised at how different they are from each other and how I am more defined from a perspective than I thought. I might not know exactly what I am, but I know what I am not. I do think there are useful components of feminist therapy (e.g., we have to conceptualize people within their context, we are all trying to cope with our experiences), but I don't think it is helpful to think about all the ways a person is oppressed. The focus on oppression makes sense for the 60s and 70s, but I have problems with the way "oppression" is getting thrown around in America today. I will acknowledge that I am a white, middle-class woman so my experiences are different from others. I am not denying that oppression exists or that individuals who live in America may feel oppressed, but I would challenge that idea. I think the original definition of oppression has been diluted a bit. Oppression is prolonged cruel or unjust use of authority or power. There are no laws against me that are cruel or unjust- I can walk freely, talk whenever I want, wear what I want, work where I want to work, get an education, and so on. An abusive partner or explicitly racist coworker can be oppressive, but I think we use the word to describe situations that hurt our feelings but are not actually oppressive. I have seen and spoken with women who are not allowed to speak until spoke to, who cannot be in public without a male authority figure present, and who really just pose as punching bags and baby carriers to men. That is oppression. The existence of a male-dominated field is not oppression. Having statements like "you hit like a girl" or "man up" is not oppressing women. Having to wear a bra is not oppressive. I think there are significant and major struggles that women face and that gets overlooked at times when we try to say that all women are oppressed or impacted by social norms or expectations. 

That being said, I personally, would not find it helpful to examine ways I have been oppressed or ways I have internalized messages about women because 1) I don't think I am oppressed, nor do I want to think that and 2) we all internalize messages about ourselves and it goes beyond women and gender roles. However, I do see the utility in taking a somewhat feminist approach when focusing on female offenders when it comes to individual experiences and understanding a persons within their context. As I discussed in my presentation, justice-involved females have often been overlooked, understudied, and just lumped together with men, despite having different needs. More research is identifying that women come into contact with the justice system differently, respond to different types of treatment, and re-offend differently compared to men. I am interested in creating new research and working with justice-involved females as an individual population rather than a sub group. I think a feminist approach (that is modified a bit) may be helpful becuase many justice-involved women had traumatic experiences or have experienced abuse whereas trauma is not as common with justice-involved men. In treating "criminalness," trauma is not usually treated becasue it does not effect a persons' risk to reoffend. However, those studies have used male samples. It isn't clear how differnt factors work with justice-involved women. 

In general, I am just a big proponent of seeing people as people and not necessallry our identities. I don't want to be a sucessfull woman, I just want to be a sucessfull person. I don't want to be defined by my gender- the good or the bad attributes. I also am not bothered by stereotypes or characteristics of women because if they are not true for me, then they don't matter. Being a woman can mean different things for different people and I am okay with that- for me it just means being human. I think there is utility in understanding a person within thier societal context and feminsit therapy can be useful for women who feel oppressed or in working with trauma and abuse. I am not against feminist therapy, I just think there is a time and place for it and I personaly would not make a good client. As a clinician, I can see times when it would be useful and times when it would not. If a client wants to explore the roles of a woman, I would be more than happy to help them expand their ideas of what a woman can do. If a client wants to stick to her gender stereotypes, I think that is okay as well. 

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