How do feminist psychologists, activists, and therapists in Turkey challenge patriarchal structures in methodology, therapy, politics, and education? A reading sample from the volume “Psychology’s Feminist Voices from Turkey. Knowledge, Activism, and Transformative Practices” edited by Ayçe Feride Yılmaz. Read a snippet from the second chapter “Feminist Psychotherapies in Addressing Violence against Womens” written by Leyla Soydinç.
Reading sample, pp. 27–30.
Feminist Psychotherapies in Addressing Violence against Women
Leyla Soydinç
Mor Çatı (Purple Roof) Women’s Shelter Foundation, Istanbul, Türkiye
The mainstream theoretical framework in the realm of psychological trauma has historically been built upon male norms and experiences, until feminist interventions challenged it. This construction has often rendered womenʼs experiences invisible, excluded, and at times distorted, shaping the gender politics of psychological -well-being. However, particularly since the 1970s, the global influence of the second-wave feminist movement has revealed the gendered aspects of theory in the field of psychology, especially psychological trauma, leading to a perspective that transforms theoretical and practical approaches by critiquing methods that reference patriarchal norms. In psychological studies, the feminist approach has criticized research, theory and practice methods that use patriarchal norms as a reference point, excluding the experiences of those outside these norms.
The Historical Process of Gender in Spirituality: A Quote from Herman—“A Forgotten History”
Studies on psychological trauma—particularly in terms of theories, diagnoses, and treatment approaches—were predominantly shaped around men’s combat experiences until the late 19th century, with the exception of the study of hysteria. Especially in the field of psychological trauma, studies were largely confined to men with war experiences until the feminist movement’s intervention in the 1970s. However, research on hysteria became one of the few areas where women’s experiences were prominently addressed. During these studies, it was discovered that the altered states of consciousness and emotional reactions defined as hysteria were often rooted in domestic violence and childhood abuse experienced by women (Herman, 1992).
A key figure in the early study of hysteria was the French neurologist Jean- Martin Charcot, who focused on hysteria symptoms resembling neurological damage. He demonstrated that these symptoms could be artificially triggered ever, Charcot limited his focus to the symptoms themselves and did not delve into the experiences causing these conditions in his patients. In the mid-1890s, Sigmund Freud, working independently but concurrently with Pierre Janet in France and Josef Breuer in Vienna, identified a similar phenomenon. They concluded that the condition labeled as hysteria was caused by psychological trauma. They argued that the unbearable emotional reactions stemming from traumatic events led to altered states of consciousness, giving rise to hysteria symptoms. As a treatment, they discovered that articulating traumatic memories could alleviate these symptoms. This therapeutic method laid the foundation for modern therapy. Janet referred to the technique as “psychological analysis,” while Breuer and Freud called it “catharsis” or “talking cure.” Freud later renamed the method as “psychoanalysis.”
While conducting therapy sessions with women exhibiting hysteria symptoms, Freud often heard accounts of sexual violence and childhood abuse. In his 1896 study titled The Aetiology of Hysteria, based on 18 cases, Freud asserted that every case of hysteria had one or more incidents of childhood sexual abuse or violence at its root. However, within a year, Freud secretly abandoned this theory of the traumatic origins of hysteria. He feared the societal implications of exposing sexual violence and childhood abuse not only among the working class of Paris, where he initially conducted his research, but also among the bourgeois families of Vienna. Consequently, Freud stopped listening to his female patients.
For the next century, dominant psychological theories denied women’s realities (Herman, 1981; Masson, 1984; Rush, 1977). Although sexuality remained a central focus of psychological research, the societal context of these experiences, especially their violent aspects, was ignored. Psychoanalysis shifted to a theory centered on the internal fluctuations of desire and fantasy, severed from the social reality of individual experiences. These interpretations went so far as to frame women’s experiences of abuse and violence as manifestations of their sexual desires or fantasies (Freud, 1963; Lewis, 1976; Rose, 1985). This reality, described by Herman as “a forgotten history,” was revived through the intervention of the feminist movement.
In the 1970s, during what is known as the second-wave feminist movement, feminists questioned the adequacy of addressing women’s inequality and discrimination solely in the “public sphere” and called for politics to focus on the systemic male violence women faced in the “private sphere,” such as within the home. At this juncture, “Consciousness-Raising Groups” played a pivotal role in steering politics in this direction and served as an inspirational model for psychological trauma studies.
Emerging in the late 1960s in the United States, these leaderless and nonhierarchical groups provided a space for women to share diverse experiences of womanhood, helping participants feel less isolated and offering supportive group dynamics. These groups enabled women to realize the systemic nature of the male violence they faced and, most importantly, to recognize that they were subjected to this violence not because of personal reasons but simply because they were women. For women, understanding that they were neither responsible for nor guilty of the violence, and finding safe spaces to share their emotions and experiences, were transformative. Although consciousness-raising groups were not initially intended as therapeutic spaces, their dynamics possessed a naturally healing quality. One of their most significant outcomes was the organization of political resistance against the violence women faced.
Feminist Psychoanalysis: A Historical Perspective
Understanding the conceptual background of feminist therapy requires examining the historical development of feminist psychoanalytic theories. Even without direct feminist influence, some of the patriarchal assumptions in Freud’s works were recognized and criticized by his contemporaries. However, these productive debates within early psychoanalysis were short-lived. From the 1940s onward, the mainstream psychoanalytic tradition became increasingly orthodox, strictly adhering to Freud’s interpretations, which were both conformist and sexist.
A glaring blind spot in foundational psychoanalytic texts is the ambiguity surrounding women’s roles and the silence on male violence against women. Women are present in these narratives solely as “erotic objects” or “objects of desire.” There is no meaningful connection established between being an object of desire and being a subject of domination. It is striking that a theory so directly concerned with sexuality and violence hardly addresses rape, except as part of discussions on children’s unconscious fears and fantasies or women’s so-called inherent masochism (Özkazanç, 2013).
Notably, figures like Karen Horney emerged within early psychoanalytic theory, directly influenced by women’s demands for liberation and equality. In her book The Neurotic Personality of Our Time (1999), Horney analyzed women’s issues, such as their “overvaluation of love” and struggles with “autonomy,” offering psychological and social insights. She also provided social interpretations of concepts like penis envy and castration anxiety.
Later, theorists such as Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, and Hélène Cixous paved the way for a different understanding of subjectivity by focusing on the pre-Oedipal stage and the relationship with the maternal body (the “maternal thing”). According to these thinkers, mainstream psychoanalytic theories exhibit violence by excluding women from subjectivity, reducing them to lack and deficiency and alienating them. They argue that this framework relies on a rigid philosophy of being and logic of sameness, suppressing the fluidity, relationality, and heterogeneity of human existence (Özkazanç, 2013).
With feminist interventions, the excluded subject—women’s experiences— was finally included in the field of psychology. Moreover, this inclusion analyzed women’s experiences within their social realities. Feminist psychologists aimed to uncover, redefine, conceptualize, and transform women’s experiences, thereby linking them to the domain of mental health (Worell & Johnson, 1997).
Revisiting Suppressed and Distorted Experiences
Criticizing existing theories or introducing new ones required revisiting women’s suppressed or distorted experiences through feminist research methods. This led to a renewed focus on issues like violence and childhood abuse. For example, a study conducted in the early 1980s by sociologist and human rights activist Diana Russell involving over 900 women revealed that one in four women had experienced rape and one in three had been sexually abused during childhood (Russell, 1984).
During this period, the feminist movement turned its attention to sexual violence. Feminists argued that rape was not about sexuality but a tool for demonstrating power and control over women, used to sustain male dominance (Brownmiller, 1975). This political stance not only exposed women’s experiences of sexual violence but also highlighted its connection to patriarchy. It challenged myths that framed sexual violence as deviance and offered interpretations rooted in power dynamics. This shift provided a foundation for addressing sexual violence as a societal issue rather than an individual aberration, linking it to broader systems of power and control while amplifying the voices of women whose experiences had long been marginalized or ignored.
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Knowledge, Activism, and Transformative Practices
edited by Ayçe Feride Yılmaz
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