Karen Horney and Psychoanalytic Feminism

"Psychoanalytic theory, if Horney is correct, is a theory of masculine psychology."
Kerr (1987)



Karen Horney was born in a little German town in 1885. As a young girl, she argued with her parents to let her attend grammar school - which was not the most typical thing to do for girls. Later, Horney studied medicine and - inspired by Freud - psychoanalysis. And later again, she started criticising Freud ... and was criticised for doing so (Hitchcock, 2005).

"Like all sciences and all valuations, the psychology of women has hitherto been considered only from the point of view of men." Karen Horney

"The view that women are infantile and emotional creatures, and as such, incapable of responsibility and independence is the work of the masculine tendency to lower women's self-respect." Karen Horney

"Karen Horney's contributions to psychology and, in particular, the psychology of women, are considerable. She remains one of the only women to be included in personality theory texts and was the first woman to present a paper on feminine psychology at an international conference. Her critique of Freud and the entire discipline of Psychology as androcentric unfolded in light of her observations relating to the sociocultural determinants of women's inferior position. She found it problematic that women were defined in relation to men and argued that penis envy, if it existed at all, was rooted, not in a wish to possess a penis but, rather, in a desire for the status and recognition afforded to men by the culture. She further argued that men's need to succeed and leave a name for themselves sprung from womb envy - their inability to carry and bear children. Horney was particularly moved to defend women against the charge that they were naturally masochistic. Women's dependence on men for love, money, security, and protection led women to overemphasize qualities like beauty and charm, Horney argued, but also to seek meaning through their relationships with husbands, children, and family."
Held (2010)

"Even in Freud's circle, not all analysts agreed with Freud's assessment and there were debates concerning women's sexuality and the roles of castration and penis envy therein, notably among Karl Abraham, Ernest Jones, Helene Deutsch, and Karen Horney. Horney in particular argued for an inherent feminine disposition that is not merely a secondary formation premised on castration and she took issue with the ostensible effects of penis envy and women's supposed feelings of inferiority. As with some later feminist criticisms of Freud, Horney attempted to retrieve female sexuality, and by extension a valid form of feminine existence, by appealing to a genuinely independent nature and holding culture culpable for women's subordinate status. By thus reasserting the primacy of biological and social forces, however, Horney disputes precisely the idea that is central to Freud's hypothesis and that marks psychoanalysis as a unique field of inquiry, that of a distinctive psychical realm of representation that is unconscious."
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"The conception of what is normal varies not only with the culture but also within the same culture, in the course of time." Karen Horney

- - - - - - - - - - -
- Hitchcock, S. T. (2005). Karen Horney. Pioneer of Feminine Psychology. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
- Kerr, N. J. (1987). "Wounded Womanhood". An Analysis of Karen Horney's Theory of Feminine Psychology. doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6163.1987.tb00295.x

Homophobia and Latent Homosexuality

"The roots of homophobia are fear. Fear and more fear."
George Weinberg

“I coined the word homophobia to mean it was a phobia about homosexuals….It was a fear of homosexuals which seemed to be associated with a fear of contagion, a fear of reducing the things one fought for—home and family. It was a religious fear and it had led to great brutality as fear always does.”
George Weinberg (cited in Herek, 2004)

"When a phobia incapacitates a person from engaging in activities considered decent by society, the person himself is the sufferer….But here the phobia appears as antagonism directly toward a particular group of people. Inevitably, it leads to disdain toward the people themselves, and to mistreatment of them. The phobia in operation is a prejudice, and this means we can widen our understanding by considering the phobia from the point of view of its being a prejudice and then uncovering its motives." George Weinberg (cited in Herek, 2004)

In 1972, psychologist George Weinberg introduced the term "homophobia", a term that challenged the traditional way of thinking about the so-called problem of homosexuality, a term that helped shift society's attention on the real problem of prejudice and stigma by locating the problem not in homosexual people but in intolerant hetereosexuals.

"Weinberg gave a name to the hostility and helped popularize the belief that it constituted a social problem worthy of scholarly analysis and intervention. His term became an important tool for gay and lesbian activists, advocates, and their allies." (Herek, 2004)

What is the motivation behind being homophobic? Based on people's scores on the Index of Homophobia, Adams et al. assigned indivuals to a group of homophobic men vs. a group of nonhomophobic men. Men of both groups were exposed to sexually explicit (hetereosexual and male homesexual) erotic stimuli while changes in penile circumference were monitored. Results indicated that those who score in the homophobic range and admit negative affect toward homosexuality "demonstrate significant sexual arousal to male homosexual erotic stimuli". Nonhomophobic men, however, show no significant increase in penile response to homosexual stimuli. Explanations vary from latent homesexuality to anxiety enhancing arousal (Adams et al., 1996).

"Although the causes of homophobia are unclear, several psychoanalytic explanations have emerged from the idea of homophobia as an anxiety-based phenomenon. One psychoanalytic explanation is that anxiety about the possibility of being or becoming a homosexual may be a major factor in homophobia (West, 1977). For example, de Kuyper (1993) has asserted that homophobia is the result of the remnants of homosexuality in the heterosexual resolution of the Oedipal conflict. Whereas these notions are vague, psychoanalytic theories usually postulate that homophobia is a result of repressed homosexual urges or a form of latent homosexuality. Latent homosexuality can be defined as homosexual arousal which the individual is either unaware of or denies (West, 1977 ). Psychoanalysts use the concept of repressed or latent homosexuality to explain the emotional malaise and irrational attitudes displayed by some individuals who feel guilty about their erotic interests and struggle to deny and repress homosexual impulses. In fact, West ( 1977, p. 202) stated, 'when placed in a situation that threatens to excite their own unwanted homosexual thoughts, they overreact with panic or anger.'" (Adams et al., 1996)

"Some phobias, such as the fear of squares or of trains, are acquired only in later life, while others, the fear of darkness, storms and animals, exist from the very beginning. The former signify serious illness, the latter appear rather as peculiarities, moods."
Sigmund Freud, General Theory of the Neuroses; Fear and Anxiety

Related posting:
- The -ism Series (8): Heterosexism



- Adams, H. E., Wright, L. W. & Lohr, B. A. (1996). Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105(3), 440-445.
- Herek, G. M. (2004). Beyond "Homophobia": Thinking About Sexual Prejudice and Stigma in the Twenty-First Century. Journal of NSRC, 6-24.
- Williams, M. (2008). Homosexuality Anxiety: A Misunderstood Form of OCD. Leading-Edge Health Education Issues, 195-205.
- Photographs of Michel Serrault (1928-2007) and Ugo Tognazzi (1922-1990) (La cage aux folles) via and via and via and via

"(...) assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation"

In April 1935, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) “was contacted by a worried mother who was seeking treatment for her son’s apparent homosexuality. Freud, who believed that all humans are attracted to both sexes in some capacity, responded with the following letter of advice.” (via)



Dear Mrs [Erased],
I gather from your letter that your son is a homosexual. I am most impressed by the fact that you do not mention this term yourself in your information about him. May I question you why you avoid it? Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them. (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime - and a cruelty, too. If you do not believe me, read the books of Havelock Ellis.
By asking me if I can help, you mean, I suppose, if I can abolish homosexuality and make normal heterosexuality take its place. The answer is, in a general way we cannot promise to achieve it. In a certain number of cases we succeed in developing the blighted germs of heterosexual tendencies, which are present in every homosexual in the majority of cases it is no more possible. It is a question of the quality and the age of the individual. The result of treatment cannot be predicted.
What analysis can do for your son runs on a different line. If he is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency, whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed. If you make up your mind he should have analysis with me — I don’t expect you will - he has to come over to Vienna. I have no intention of leaving here. However, don’t neglect to give me your answer.
Sincerely yours with best wishes,
Freud



Hidden Freud: Currently, advertising pillars with posters and quotes of Sigmund Freud are entrances to the digital exhibition "Hidden Freud" in the Austrian city of Graz. The exhibition uses both public space and digital media. 14 advertising pillars have codes for smartphones and tablets which open the door to a virtual tour to and with Sigmund Freud.

inspired by Open Culture, image via