Out On The Couch

Anyone who tries to define feminism will quickly realize why there is no agreed upon definition that can stand across eras and geographies. Feminism exists as a form of critique, creation, advocacy, identity and much more, all depending on who you ask and when. As Feminist Therapists, we face the essential task of developing an ethic and set of approaches that is at the vanguard of inclusivity and intersectionality. Many have critiqued feminist movements for failing to recognize and center the realities of women who face the most significant discrimination. It is up to us to make sure that our clinical work reaches beyond those limitations!

Feminism & Therapy

Feminist Therapy can be traced to Feminist Psychology, which was created as a form of critique within the field of psychology with the goal of focusing on gender, social locations, and political systems. Gender was examined as an experience, political perspective, set of perceptions, and more. Unfortunately, mainstream voices in the field largely neglected to explore gender beyond binaries or the different realities across racialized women. Today’s Feminist Therapy offers the opportunity to address these errors and continue to recognize the political nature of our work.

The history of feminism in the United States is divided into four different waves with distinct priorities on rights and freedoms. The first three waves brought us suffrage (1848 – 1920), women’s liberation (1963 – 1980), and rebellion against gendered expectations (emerging in the 1990s). The fourth wave is defined by digital movements and collective action. It includes focusing on systemic oppression and inclusive representation of feminism regardless of sex, sexuality, race, ability, class and other spheres of marginalization.

Inclusive Feminist Therapy

Today’s Feminist Therapists are called to incorporate greater inclusivity, beginning with a much broader definition of women and women’s issues. Feminism reaches far beyond the diverse yet specific realities of white women, as contrasted with white men. Genders and femininities are infinitely expansive, with many aspects that intertwine to create unique lived experiences that are infinitely multifaceted. The complexity of gender remains relevant, right down to the language we use today to identify ourselves.

Trans women have long been at the forefront of decolonizing Feminism, ensuring that it reaches beyond popularly held assumptions of limited inclusivity. Black and brown trans women, as well as Indigenous people of diverse genders, from all over the world have been especially essential in agitating for a shared, expansive understanding of feminism that centers those who are socially and politically targeted for the greatest levels of risk and oppression.

Deconstructing & Challenging Gender Norms

This sets an essential context for Feminist Therapy by setting a high standard for inclusive practice that is ever evolving as we continue to confront our own internalized biases and harmful assumptions. Indeed, just as generations of Intersectional Feminists have rallied behind concepts such as “nothing about us, without us” from the disability and neurodiversity movements. It is the responsibility of psychotherapists to ensure that our training and experience honor the centering of those with the greatest need for support. It is essential that we never stop working toward greater expansiveness of inclusivity, instead of relying upon harmful generalizations built on theory and practice that centers those who have traditionally been the target audience for traditional Westernized clinical work: middle and upper class white women and their families.

Without Feminist Therapy’s strong foundation of critique, combined with the recognition that the personal is very much political, it makes sense that Feminist Therapists would turn to the Intersectionality and decolonization work of leaders such as Drs. Kimberle Crenshaw, b. hooks, and Kimberly Tallbear-Dauphine. After all, some of our best sources of clinical knowledge come from other schools of research and writing. We are all called to expand ourselves as we expand our work, both as clinicians and clients. In this way, we can honor the true potential for inclusivity and intersectionality as essential core values of Feminist Therapy.

Learn More From Our Courses