Feminine Psychology

About This Book

"Because the role of woman as a contributing member of society comes increasingly under scrutiny, Karen Horney's thoughts and theories about feminine psychology are particularly relevant to our day. In this new collection of papers, many previously unavailable in English, Karen Horney brings to the subject of femininity both profound knowledge of women and dedicated skill as a therapist. As a psychoanalytic pioneer who trained at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute in the 1920's, Dr. Horney began to question certain of Freud's theories, especially his libido theory, which her own careful clinical observations seems to contradict. At the same time her reading in anthropology strengthened her feeling that an organism's behavior is determined culturally as well as biologically. A male-oriented, materialistic society, such as the one into which Freud was born, would evolve theories of separate male and female psychologies. In such a society a woman's outlook on life would appear to be determined by her envy of the male sex organ. According to Dr. Horney, what woman really envies are masculine attributes and the opportunities society offers more readily to men. In this book her discussion of such subjects as frigidity, the problem of monogamy, maternal conflicts, feminine masochism, and the neurotic need for love offers valuable insights into the problems confronting women today - the problesm taht they bring to psychiatrists, marriage counselors, and clergymen."--Publisher's description.