From the “Child Woman” to “Wonder Woman”: Progress and Misogyny in Psychoanalytic Theory and Clinical Work

2 CE credits for Licensed Psychoanalysts, Social Workers, and Psychologists

The way we listen to our patients and formulate their problems in the areas of sex and gender depend on the guiding theories of the therapist. The place and function of sex and gender in that theory will reveal its biases about female development in particular. Rosemary Balsam will compare an early portrait of female development in the history of psychoanalysis, the “Child Woman” described by Fritz Wittels, of Freud’s circle, circa 1908, to issues surrounding the creation of the cartoon character “Wonder Woman” (1941) and her realization as a live character in a movie (2017). Balsam will utilize psychoanalytic theory to critique this character’s encoded gender messages.

Rosemary H. Balsam, MD, is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine; Staff Psychiatrist, Student Mental Health and Counseling, Yale University; Training and Supervising Analyst, Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis; and coeditor of the book review section of JAPA; her most recent book is Women’s Bodies in Psychoanalysis (Routledge, 2012).

Practitioners and General Public: $20

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