Feminist Foremothers In Women S Studies Psychology And Mental Health

Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health is by and about the more recent wave of feminist foremothers; those who were awakened in the 1960s and ’70s to the realization that something was terribly wrong. These are the women who created the fields of feminist therapy, feminist psychology, and women’s mental health as they exist today. The 48 women share their life stories in the hope that they will inspire and encourage readers to take their own risks and their own journeys to the outer edges of human possibility. Authors write about what led up to their achievements, what their accomplishments were, and how their lives were consequently changed. They describe their personal stages of development in becoming feminists, from unawareness to activism to action. Some women focus on the painful barriers to success, fame, and social change; others focus on the surprise they experience at how well they, and the women’s movement, have done. Some well-known feminist foremothers featured include: Phyllis Chesler Gloria Steinem Kate Millett Starhawk Judy Chicago Zsuszanna Emese Budapest Andrea Dworkin Jean Baker Miller Carol Gilligan In Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health, many of the women see in hindsight how prior projects and ideas and even dreams were the forerunners to their most important work. They note the importance of sisterhood and the presence of other women and the loneliness and isolation experienced when they don’t exist. They note the validation they have received from grassroots feminists in contrast to disbelief from professionals. Although these women have been and continue to be looked up to as foremothers, they realize how little recognition they’ve been given from society-at-large and how much better off their male counterparts are. Some foremothers write about the feeling of being different, not meshing with the culture of the time and about challenging the system as an outsider, not an insider. These are women who had few mentors, who had to forge their own way, “hit the ground running.” Their stories will challenge readers to press on, to continue the work these foremothers so courageously started. Throughout the pages of Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health runs a sense of excitement and vibrancy of lives lived well, of being there during the early years of the women’s movement, of making sacrifices, of taking risks and living to see enormous changes result. Throughout these pages, too, sounds a call not to take these changes for granted but to recognize that feminists, rather than arguing over picayune issues or splitting politically correct hairs, are battling for the very soul of the world.

Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health is by and about the more recent wave of feminist foremothers; those who were awakened in the 1960s and ’70s to the realization that something was terribly wrong. These are the women who created the fields of feminist therapy, feminist psychology, and women’s mental health as they exist today. The 48 women share their life stories in the hope that they will inspire and encourage readers to take their own risks and their own journeys to the outer edges of human possibility. Authors write about what led up to their achievements, what their accomplishments were, and how their lives were consequently changed. They describe their personal stages of development in becoming feminists, from unawareness to activism to action. Some women focus on the painful barriers to success, fame, and social change; others focus on the surprise they experience at how well they, and the women’s movement, have done. Some well-known feminist foremothers featured include: Phyllis Chesler Gloria Steinem Kate Millett Starhawk Judy Chicago Zsuszanna Emese Budapest Andrea Dworkin Jean Baker Miller Carol Gilligan In Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health, many of the women see in hindsight how prior projects and ideas and even dreams were the forerunners to their most important work. They note the importance of sisterhood and the presence of other women and the loneliness and isolation experienced when they don’t exist. They note the validation they have received from grassroots feminists in contrast to disbelief from professionals. Although these women have been and continue to be looked up to as foremothers, they realize how little recognition they’ve been given from society-at-large and how much better off their male counterparts are. Some foremothers write about the feeling of being different, not meshing with the culture of the time and about challenging the system as an outsider, not an insider. These are women who had few mentors, who had to forge their own way, “hit the ground running.” Their stories will challenge readers to press on, to continue the work these foremothers so courageously started. Throughout the pages of Feminist Foremothers in Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health runs a sense of excitement and vibrancy of lives lived well, of being there during the early years of the women’s movement, of making sacrifices, of taking risks and living to see enormous changes result. Throughout these pages, too, sounds a call not to take these changes for granted but to recognize that feminists, rather than arguing over picayune issues or splitting politically correct hairs, are battling for the very soul of the world.

Written by two scholars in the feminist community, this book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the psychology of women. By supplementing its strong base of psychological theory and research with sociological, anthropological and historical material, the text attempts to present diverse and thorough consideration of female experience. This book also emphasizes the diversity of women's lives. Aspects of race, class and sexual orientation are integrated into every chapter. This book should be of interest to the psychology of women course offered in psychology, sociology and women's studies departments.

Shape a better future with the insights of the third wave! Is feminism still necessary? How can older feminists and younger ones find a common ground to discuss issues that affect them both? What does it mean to be a third-wave feminist? The Next Generation explores these and other issues that deeply concern feminist therapists of all ages. This powerful book examines the psychological and cultural context of the third wave of feminism. The young feminists whose voices are heard in The Next Generation grew up in a very different world than the feminists who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. Dialogues between older and younger feminists explore conflicting cultural images of the feminist establishment as successful freedom fighters or angry, anti-sex activists. The Next Generation discusses the issues young feminists face, including: the false sense that feminism is no longer necessary the social and historic context of young women's lives finding and sharing power in the therapeutic relationship building healthy mentoring relationships creating psychotherapy partnerships with adolescent girls The Next Generation offers a fruitful dialogue between older women who remember the bitter battles for the ERA and younger feminists who take for granted women's presence on the Supreme Court. Each generation builds on the foundations of the past, and the feminist psychotherapists represented in this volume offer fresh insights and techniques appropriate for the way we live now. The Next Generation is an essential resource for therapists and feminists of any age.

This volume presents work at the interface of feminist theory and mental health. The editors a stellar array of contributors to continue the vital process of feminist theory building and critique.

Nominated for the 2012 Distinguished Publication Award of the Association for Women in Psychology! Why are women more likely to be positioned or diagnosed as mad than men? If madness is a social construction, a gendered label, as many feminist critics would argue, how can we understand and explain women's prolonged misery and distress? In turn, can we prevent or treat women’s distress, in a non-pathologising women centred way? The Madness of Women addresses these questions through a rigorous exploration of the myths and realities of women's madness. Drawing on academic and clinical experience, including case studies and in-depth interviews, as well as on the now extensive critical literature in the field of mental health, Jane Ussher presents a critical multifactorial analysis of women's madness that both addresses the notion that madness is a myth, and yet acknowledges the reality and multiple causes of women's distress. Topics include: The genealogy of women’s madness – incarceration of difficult or deviant women Regulation through treatment Deconstrucing depression, PMS and borderline personality disorder Madness as a reasonable response to objectification and sexual violence Women’s narratives of resistance This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of psychology, gender studies, sociology, women's studies, cultural studies, counselling and nursing.

A feminist critique of the position of women within academic and professional psychology, this book explores how psychology functions to maintain power structures and practices which often exclude and oppress women.