Revolutions in Psychoanalytic Theory of Lesbian Development: Dora to Dykes and Back Again

Nowhere is the therapeutic action in psychoanalytic theory, away from Freud and back again, more striking than in the realm of homosexuality. Theories of lesbian development have evolved to appreciate the complexity of sexuality and gender as expressed in sexual object choice, foregrounded within ps...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychoanalytic psychology 2001, Vol.18 (4), p.667-683
Main Author: Jacobo, Michelle C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Female
History
Human
Lesbianism
Object Relations
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychosexual Development
Sexuality
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Summary:Nowhere is the therapeutic action in psychoanalytic theory, away from Freud and back again, more striking than in the realm of homosexuality. Theories of lesbian development have evolved to appreciate the complexity of sexuality and gender as expressed in sexual object choice, foregrounded within psychoanalysis by proponents of relational and intersubjectivity theories. In this article, I argue that it was not until psychoanalysis came to embrace this complex and contextualized understanding of homosexuality that therapists could become curious with patients about conflict-based aspects of their homosexual selves without risk of pathologizing. I elaborate the ways in which contemporary psychoanalytic theories of lesbian development have provided a theoretical context from which therapists may allow ideas of drive, conflict, and object relations to inform and to advance work with their lesbian patients.
ISSN:0736-9735
1939-1331
DOI:10.1037/0736-9735.18.4.667