(iPoster) Addressing Patriarchal Narratives in Psychoanalytic-Informed Public Policies

• In Event: Poster Session: Foundations of Political Theory 1 (Normative)

Abstract

Psychoanalysis is central to critically engaging with the theoretical foundations of numerous public health policies that grapple with issues of alienation, loneliness, lack of belonging, sexism, and racism. However, one of the notable accusations leveled against psychoanalytic theories has been that they inadvertently reproduce patriarchic structures of oppression by including only the perspectives of men. In this paper, I investigate the ways that feminist political theorists wrestled with the problem of male bias in psychoanalysis while proposing a new way of engaging with both classical and modern psychoanalytic theories which would ensure that perspectives of women are not just included but prioritized and assigned the importance they deserve. In particular, I contextualize Object Relations Theory by using recent insights from neurobiology and neuropsychology, which underscore the importance of intimate interactions between the primary caregiver and the infant during the first two years of life in the experience-dependent development of the human brain – development that leaves significant and indelible marks on the person as a whole. This critical role, which, in our societies, is almost exclusively performed by those identifying as women, is often overlooked and taken for granted. I discuss the political implications of these neuroscientific findings, how this research can further feminist goals of creating more equitable households instead of subverting them, as well as how psychoanalytic theories provide indispensable context for interpreting this data and can inform political actions and agendas.

Author

• Jeremi Dolecki