Feminist Theory, Feminist Psychology: A Bibliography of Epistemology, Critical Analysis, and Applications

"It Doesn't Feel Like You Can Win": Young Women's Talk About Heterosexual Relationships

Scholars have long explored the expectations of women to maintain intimate relationships and the gendered discourses governing those expectations. Despite the dating landscape changes, having intimate relationships remains important for young women. Amid these changes and the impacts of #MeToo/#TimesUp, investigating the discourses at play within women's talk about intimate relationships produces a current snapshot that contrasts with past literature. Young, heterosexual women of diverse racial, educational/work, and relationship backgrounds aged 18-24 years (N = 28) attended one of five online videoconferencing focus groups. Using an eclectic theoretical approach informed by feminist post-structuralism and discursive psychology, we analyzed women's talk about doing relationships. Mobilizing a discourse of intimate relationship necessity/importance, young women (a) were positioned as "the silenc(ed/ing) woman," demonstrating a shared understanding of the necessity of silence when doing intimate relationships; and/or (b) actively took up "the communicative woman," which they conceptualized as the hallmark of a healthy relationship. Tensions between these subject positions were evident (e.g., needing to be "cool"). Also, women described no-win situations in relationships despite attempts to contend with these contradictions and limitations. These findings may contribute to educational materials and youth programming delivered in high school or college.

Decolonizing feminist knowledge: The standpoint of majority world feminist activists in Perú

From its beginnings, feminism has challenged knowledge about women and gender and questioned the methods by which that knowledge is produced. Feminist psychologists are well-positioned to engage in a critical re-examination of the assumptions underlying theory or the constructs employed in the construction of knowledge. Macleod et al. noted that feminists have rarely adopted a single theory, recognizing that every feminism bears the stamp of its place of origin. The current study contributes to feminist decolonizing efforts by using the standpoint of activists in Perú to conduct an examination of feminism. The project involves scholar-activist collaborations with the Global Feminisms Project, at the University of Michigan, and a feminist organization in Perú, Flora Tristán. Nine key feminist activists were interviewed through testimonio. Participants held positions including: Indigenous leaders, scholars, Congresswomen, directors of organizations, and youth leaders. Key findings reveal that the feminist activists interviewed believe that production of knowledge is not a monopoly of the academy, feminism is inherently intersectional and is a process, not an academic definition, and one crucial for political action.

Psychologization in and through the women's movement: A transnational history of the psychologization of consciousness-raising in the German-speaking countries and the United States

This study explores the psychologization of the women's movement by examining the activist practice of consciousness-raising in a transnational perspective. We follow the lines along which P/psychological concepts that were appropriated and developed by North American feminist activists during the late 1960s and early 1970s traveled to the German-speaking countries and were translated, adopted, and transformed by feminist activists in Germany and Austria. We explore both the process of psychologization as the practice traveled from the United States to German-speaking countries and the various dimensions of psychologization: diffusion of Psy-expert discourse beyond the borders of the psy-disciplines, academization, individualization, and meta-psychologization. With the latter term, we aim to capture the relationship between (feminist) P/psychology and its critique.

A narrow view: The conceptualization of sexual problems in human sexuality textbooks

This study examined the ways in which the meaning of 'sexual problems' is constructed and defined in undergraduate human sexuality textbooks. Drawing on feminist and critical discourse frameworks, the dominant as well as the absent/marginalized discourses were identified using critical discourse analysis. Sexual difficulties were largely framed by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Thus, medical discourse was privileged. Alternative conceptualizations and frameworks, such as the New View of Women's Sexual Problems, were included marginally and peripherally. We argue that current constructions of sexuality knowledge reinforce, rather than challenge, existing hegemonic discourses of sexuality.

A Restive Legacy: The History of Feminist Work in Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In the last century feminist psychologists have contributed to refining and improving research in experimental psychology. While the accomplishments are cause for celebration during the American Association of Psychology's (APA) Centennial year, especially given the sexism that has accompanied scientific practices, we need to examine more carefully the difficulties—past and present—that attend feminist efforts in the discipline. This brief article explores the strategies that feminist researchers have used to eliminate androcentrism and sexism from experimental and, more recently, cognitive psychology. Such historical reassessment not only reveals the multiple and insightful means by which feminist psychologists have proceeded, but also indicates that feminist work must continue to focus on epistemological and theoretical problems as well as methodological ones.

Feminist Psychology in the Service of Women: Staying Engaged Without Getting Married

This article, based on the 2005 Society for the Psychology of Women Presidential Address, presents a definition of feminism and evaluates feminist psychology and its current challenges through that lens. The principal theme is the tension between feminist psychology's engagement with the discipline and its ability to critique and alter both the discipline and the world. The article includes an analysis of the original 52 demands presented by women activists to the APA's Council of Representatives in 1970. Those demands are evaluated both in terms of progress and lack of achievement, as well as in terms of the limitations of the professional women's movement reflected in those original demands. The lack of success in achieving demands associated with structural change is highlighted. A framework for future feminist work that might achieve transformational change is offered.

The Origins and Activities of Apa's Division of the Psychology of Women

The activities of APA's Division of the Psychology of Women are traced from the origins of the Division in 1973 to the present. Division 35 evolved in response to pressures relating to the status of women in psychology as well as concerns about the content and practice of the psychology of women. The Division has fostered significant research on the psychology of women, been an important organizing base for women psychologists in their quest for visibility and influence, and provided institutional support for issues of diversity in psychology and society.

Dimensions of Desire

This study provides an example of how feminist psychology can bridge qualitative and quantitative methods while keeping lived experience at the center of an inquiry. The goal of the study was to begin to understand adolescent girls' experiences of sexual desire. We describe three separate and synergistically related analyses of interviews with 30 adolescent girls. We begin with a qualitative analysis of their voiced experiences of sexual desire; follow with a quantitative analysis of the differences in how urban and suburban girls describe these experiences, assessing the role of reported sexual violation; and conclude with a second qualitative analysis exploring the interaction between social location and reported sexual violation. These three analyses enabled us to understand qualitatively and to quantify interrelated dimensions of desire as described by adolescent girls.

Innovative Methods

A selection of innovative methods congenial to research in feminist psychology is reviewed. The methods described include collaborations, discourse analysis, ethnography, existential-phenomenological inquiry, focus groups, interviews, narrative investigations, performative methods, and the Q-sort. A brief description of undergraduate and graduate courses that emphasize these methods in their curricula follows. A bibliography of over 300 entries organized by type of innovative method is included. Journals recommended as publishing outlets for research using these innovative methods are listed with their Web sites.

Research On Women Of Color: From Ignorance to Awareness

Evidence that women of color are dealt with as anomalies in psychological research is discussed in order to: (a) inform researchers about the omissions, (b) stimulate interest in increased inclusion of women of color among research populations, and (c) demonstrate the need for increased diversity in research paradigms. It is noted that research paradigms directed at the study of the “universal woman” have in actuality focused on White middle class populations. This article examines the methodological and theoretical transformations that have occurred in the literature, and evaluates the extent to which researchers have successfully incorporated ethnicity into the study of gender issues. This is a call for an examination of women's experiences relative to ethnicity and a paradigmatic shift in the assumptions about what is worthy or appropriate for investigation.

Institutional Affiliation and Satisfaction Among Feminist Professors; Is There an Advantage to Women's Colleges?

Do feminist professors of psychology who teach at women's colleges derive more satisfaction from their academic lives than feminist professors who teach at coed colleges or at (coed) universities? If one assumes that gynocentric environments are more pleasing to feminists, the answer should be “yes.” Using questionnaire and interview data from 76 self-identified feminist psychology professors, we tested the expectation that feminist women teaching at women's colleges are more satisfied than their counterparts elsewhere. We found that feminist professors were generally satisfied with their pedagogical situations and were generally dedicated to and successful at teaching. Institutional affiliation produced little difference in satisfaction or practice, but feminists at women's colleges generally did feel more supported than feminists elsewhere.