Psychoanalysis and Feminism - (Essential Psychoanalysis) by Juliet Mitchell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

With a new introduction from the author, this critical text of feminist theory explores how Freud's work helps us understand the subjugation of women today.

Psychoanalysis and Feminism had a double task of explaining Freud's work both to its mistaken attackers and at the same time to those who were ignorant of it. Juliet Mitchell argued that an analysis of patriarchy was not a recommendation of it. Quite the contrary, it was indispensable for explaining the continuing 'second sex' status of women. Its argument is as effective and valid today as it was then, and the author will introduce her theories afresh for a new generation of readers and the psycho-social conditions fifty years later.

Review Quotes

"For me personally, and for many others I know, Juliet Mitchell's Psychoanalysis and Feminism was a game changer, for the brilliance with which it made the case for Freud's writing as an indispensable part of feminist thought. At a time when the question of how to understand human sexuality is being so hotly debated, Mitchell's intervention could not be more pertinent today."
--Jacqueline Rose

"A brave and important book, and its influence will not be confined to feminists"
--New York Review of Books

"A book of provocative imagination and ambition which sets out to transform our view of Freud and history."
--New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Juliet Mitchell FBA is Emeritus Professor at the Universities of Cambridge and London, and the Founder Director of the Centre for Gender Studies in the University of Cambridge. Her many books include: Psychoanalysis & Feminism, Women: The Longest Revolution, Woman's Estate, Mad Men and Medusas, Siblings: Sex and Violence, and, most recently, Fratriarchy. She is also a Fellow of both the British Academy and the International Psychoanalytical Association, and in 2022 she was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Metz-Lorraine (France).