By: Thomas Domenici (Editor), Ronnie C. Lesser (Editor)

Hardcover

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"Disorienting Sexuality" is the first book by psychoanalysts to bring the methods and critiques of feminism, gay and lesbian scholarship and postmodernism to bear on psychoanalytic theories of sexuality. This collection of papers exposes the biases against gay men and lesbians in psychoanalytic theory and practice, examines the clinical implications of these biases, deconstructs psychoanalytic theory of both homosexuality and heterosexuality and offers new directions for theory.
In the introduction, Domenici and Lesser draw a brief history of anti-homosexual sentiment in psychoanalysis, ending with a call to psychoanalysis to revitalize itself as a mode of treatment. The book then moves into essays written by lesbian and gay psychoanalysts seeking to have a voice in the reshaping of psychoanalytic theories of sexuality. Some critique the theory behind anti-homosexuality and others consider the role this bias plays as well as the harm it does gay and lesbian patients. New theoretical and clinical approaches that are responsive to the needs of gay and lesbian patients are proposed. The second section is devoted to presenting different theoretical perspectives for understanding both homosexuality and heterosexuality. These papers offer diverse perspectives--including Freudian, relational, hermeneutic, interpersonal, social-constructivist and postmodernist--creating a multi-textured dialogue about sexuality within psychoanalysis.
"Disorienting Sexuality" concludes with the personal narratives of gay and lesbian psychoanalysts. These stories, which provide contemporary perspectives from those just entering the field as well the historical perspective of those who have been practicing for many years, reveal the extent of anti-homosexuality in psychoanalytic training and practice and how it has affected lesbian and gay analytic candidates and patients.
Contributors: Mark Blechner, Lee Crespi, Muriel Dimen, Thomas Domenici, Jack Drescher, Martin Stephen Frommer, Stephen B. Goldman, Ronnie C. Lesser, April Martin, Maggie Magee, Robert May, Diana C. Miller, Noreen O'Connor, Richard Rutkin, Erica Schoenberg, Roy Schafer and David Schwartz.

"The essays in this volume are passionate, provocative, often brilliant, always illuminating. Together, they explore the most fundamental questions about the nature of desire, sexuality, gender, and psychoanalytic discourse itself. I cannot imagine a reader who would not come away from this volume with broadened vision and deepened understanding of issues which are among the most central and most vexing in psychoanalysis today."
-Jay Greenberg, Ph. D., Training and Supervising Analyst, William Alanson White Institute and Editor, "Contemporary Psychoanalysis
"This stimulating volume represents a vital piece of work in the transformation of psychoanalysis. Whereas up until now the psychoanalytic discussion of homosexuality has treated it as mainly a condition to be analyzed, these essays, mostly by gay and lesbian analysts, take homosexuality as a position from which to critique established ideas about sexuality and gender. Working with an intimate and sophisticated knowledge of bothclinical practice and contemporary theory, these writings expose crucial problems in our discipline and open up questions of sexuality and gender in important ways.."
-Jessica Benjamin, author of "The Bonds of Love and "Like Subjects, Love Objects
"All of the articles are well documented and are written with authority . . . Recommended."
-"Library Journal
..."an important contribution to the changing views toward sexuality and identity...."
- "Journal of Religion and Health

Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction	p. 1
Some Thoughts on the Role of Mourning in the Development of a Positive Lesbian Identity	p. 19
Exploding the Myth of Sexual Psychopathology: A Deconstruction of Fairbairn's Anti-Homosexual Theory	p. 33
Countertransference Obscurity in the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Homosexual Patients	p. 65
Objectivity as Masquerade	p. 83
Psychoanalysis and Women's Experience of "Coming Out": The Necessity of Becoming a "Bee-Charmer"	p. 97
Current Psychoanalytic Discourses on Sexuality: Tripping over the Body	p. 115
On "Our Nature": Prolegomenon to a Relational Theory of Sexuality	p. 129
Re-Reading Freud on Homosexuality	p. 153
Passionate Differences: Lesbianism, Post-Modernism, and Psychoanalysis	p. 167
Psychoanalysis with Gay and Lesbian People: An Interpersonal Perspective	p. 177
The Evolution of My Views on Nonnormative Sexual Practices	p. 187
Psychoanalytic Theories of Lesbian Desire: A Social Constructionist Critique	p. 203
Anti-Homosexual Bias in Training	p. 227
The Difficulty of Being A Gay Psychoanalyst During the Last Fifty Years: An Interview with Dr. Bertram Schaffner	p. 243
A View from Both Sides: Coming Out as a Lesbian Psychoanalyst	p. 255
Concluding Remarks: The Shaping of Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice by Cultural and Personal Biases about Sexuality	p. 265
Contributors	p. 289
Index	p. 293
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9780415911979
ISBN-10: 0415911974
Audience: Professional
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 313
Published: 8th August 1996
Dimensions (cm): 22.9 x 15.2  x 5.080
Weight (kg): 0.602