Where Sex Was, There Shall Gender Be? the Dialectics of Psychoanalytic Gender Theory

Bibliographic Data

ID9231593
AuthorsJames Hansell (Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume80
Issue1
Pages55-72
Publication date2011-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Psychoanalytic Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-2828 • E-ISSN: 2167-4086
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/j.2167-4086.2011.tb00077.x
PMID21387999
OpenAlexW2008844088
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

Psychoanalytic theories of gender identity have come a long way since Freud. The author reviews two dialectics that have shaped psychoanalytic gender theory thus far: first, the tension between theories that emphasize biological versus sociocultural influences on gender, and second, the dialectic between nomothetic (i.e., universalizing) and idiographic (i.e., focusing on individual variation) approaches. The author argues that psychoanalytic gender theory could be further enriched with more attention to two additional dialectics. One involves the so-called gender binary and the relative focus on cultural versus developmental aspects of the binary; a second involves the relationship between gender identity and desire. Attention to these dialectics can help better integrate theoretical and clinical perspectives on gender identity

Aesthetics · Dialectic · Epistemology · Gender identity · Gender psychology · Identity (music) · Nomothetic and idiographic · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology