Feminist psychology

Feminist psychology is a form of psychology centered on social structures and gender. Feminist psychology critiques historical psychological research as done from a male perspective with the view that males are the norm. Feminist psychology is oriented on the values and principles of feminism. It incorporates gender and the ways women are affected by issues resulting from it.

Gender issues can include the way people identify their gender (male, female, genderqueer; transgender or cisgender), how they have been affected by societal structures related to gender (gender hierarchy), the role of gender in the individual’s life (such as stereotypical gender roles), and any other gender related issues. The objective behind this field of study is to understand the individual within the larger social and political aspects of society. Feminist psychology puts a strong emphasis on women's rights. Psychoanalysis took shape as a clinical or therapeutic method, feminism as a political strategy. (Buhle, 1998).

The term feminist psychology was originally coined by Karen Horney. In her book, Feminine Psychology, which is a collection of articles Horney wrote on the subject from 1922–1937, she addresses previously held beliefs about women, relationships, and the effect of society on female psychology.

The beginning of psychology research presents very little in the way of female psychology. Many women did not fight against oppression because they did not realize they were oppressed in the first place. (Ruck, 2015). Once the functionalist movement came about in the United States, academic psychology’s study of sex difference and a prototypic psychology of woman were developed.

In 1942 Edward Strecker made "mom-ism" an official pathological syndrome under the APA. He believed that the country was under threat because mothers weren't emotionally disconnecting from their children at a young enough age, the matriarchy was making young men weak and losing their "man power". This fueled that anti-feminist movement, women were in need of psychotherapy to aid their mental illness and further prevent the spread of maternalism. The psychological damage on the family would be severe if a woman chose a career to satisfy her needs as opposed to her feminine domestic role assigned by society- a woman's happiness was not important, she must follow her role. The effect of women having independent thoughts and a thirst for exploring her options was a huge threat to gender, it resulted in masculinized women and feminized men, apparently confounding the nation's youth and dooming their future. Constantinople and Bem both agreed that men and women possess masculinity and femininity, and that having both is being psychologically androgynous and a cause to be psychologically fixed or evaluated.

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