Psychoanalysis and Feminism. Freud, Reich, Laing and Women
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Psychoanalysis and Feminism. Freud, Reich, Laing and Women (1974) is a book by Juliet Mitchell
It is Mitchell's best known book. In it, she tried to reconcile psychoanalysis and feminism at a time when many considered them incompatible. A substantial part of the thesis of the book is that Marxism may provide a model within which non-Patriarchal structures for rearing children could occur. The lack of the 'family romance' would remove the Oedipus complex from a child's development, thus liberating women from the consequences of penis envy and the feeling of being castrated which Mitchell contends is the root cause of women's acceptance that they are inferior.
Peter Gay considered the book "the most rewarding and responsible contribution'" to the feminist debate on Freud, both acknowledging and rising beyond Freud's male chauvinism in its analysis. Mitchell saw Freud's asymmetrical view of masculinity and femininity as reflecting the realities of patriarchal culture, and sought to use his critique of femininity to critique patriarchy itself. By insisting on the utility of Freud (particularly in a Lacanian reading) for feminism, she opened the way for further critical work on psychoanalysis and gender.
Child-rearing
A substantial part of the thesis of the book is that Marxism may provide a model within which non-Patriarchal structures for rearing children could occur. The lack of the 'family romance' would remove the Oedipus Complex from a child's development, thus liberating women from the consequences of Penis Envy and the feeling of being castrated which Mitchell contends is the root cause of women's acceptance that they are inferior. According to Mitchell, children are socialized into appropriate gender roles. Therefore, women grow to be equally socialized into becoming the caretakers of their households.
