WELCOME TO PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN WELCOME TO PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN Dr. Leeat Granek Summer, 2009

Critical Psychology: Critical Psychology:  Seeks to change contemporary psychology and society on behalf of “individuals and communities in general and…oppressed groups in particular”  Places emphasis on the moral, social, and political implications of psychological research and practice (e.g., ethics)  Enhances the focus on subjectivity and inter- subjectivity  Critiques philosophies and theories in psychology

What is Feminism?  Socialist feminism: many kinds of divisions between groups of people that can lead to oppression.  Women of color feminism/ Womanist feminism : began with criticism of the white women’s movement for excluding women of color and issues important to them such as poverty, racisms and needs for job, health care, good school and safe neighborhoods for everyone.

 Radical Feminism: emphasizes male control and domination of women throughout history.  Liberal Feminism: a feminist is a person who believes that women are entitled to full legal and social equality with men and who favors changes in laws, customs and values to achieve the goal of equality.

 Cultural Feminism : emphasizes differences between men and women.  Global Feminism: focuses on how sexist practices are related across cultures and they are connected to neocolonialism and global capitalism.

What is Feminist Psychology?  Feminism places a high value on women, considering women worthy of study in their own right and not just in comparison with men.  Feminism recognizes the need for social change on behalf of women: feminist psychology is avowedly political.

Womanless Psychology  Women’s experiences or achievements were too unimportant to be a focus of inquiry (history taught as a litany of accomplishments or works accomplished by men).  Disproportionate and unreflective use of males only as experimental subjects.  Failure to examine the impact of gender when both sexes were used as subjects.

 Assumption that findings from studies of male behavior applied to women;  Lack of attention of gender as a category of social reality.

 Psychology constructs the female, or the fantasy life of the male psychologist (with some attention to the fantasies of his friends, the male biologist and the male anthropologist).  Naomi Weisstien

 “The uselessness of present psychology with regard to women is simply a special case of the general conclusion: one must understand the social conditions under which women live if one is going to attempt to explain the behavior of women. And to understand the social conditions under which women live, one must be cognizant of the social expectations about women.”

 Sex Roles  Psychology of Women Quarterly  Feminism and Psychology  Association for Women in Psychology – 1969  Division 35, Psychology of Women in APA – 1977

 “In sum, although the “Psychology of women” was established with clear feminist intentions, a large part of the field is rigidly conventional in its support for the status quo. Much of psychology of women challenges neither the institutions and practices of psychology, nor the dominant conceptions of women which the discipline constructs and promotes. It does not engage with the damage psychology has done too many women’s lives, nor does it struggle to end psychology’s continuing oppressions.” (p. 249).

 Why did you register to take a course on Psychology of Women?  What issues do you hope will be addressed in this course?  How do you define the term ‘feminism’? Do you and your friends hold a similar definition of this term?  Are you a feminist? Why or why not?  Why do you believe it is important to have courses on the psychology of women?  Do you believe there should be a course on the Psychology of Men? Why or why not?  What kinds of comments have you received from friends and family regarding you taking a Psychology of Women course? Why do you believe your received these comments? How have you addressed these comments with your friends and family?  Do you think it would be desirable for women and or men if more people identified themselves as feminists? Explain your answer.