| Title | "You make me feel like a natural woman |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | " Thoughts on a Case of Transsexual Identity Formation and Queer Theory |
| Contributor | Ami Kaplan (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.21983/P3.0167.1.21 |
| Landing page | https://punctumbooks.com/titles/clinical-encounters-in-sexuality-psychoanalytic-practice-and-queer-theory/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Kaplan, Ami |
| Publisher | punctum books |
| Published on | 2017-03-07 |
| Long abstract | This chapter is about a male to female transsexual1 individual and some contemplation about her life through the lens of queer theory. I will introduce her shortly, but first I will out-line my psychoanalytic orientation and clinical stance in regard to transgender clients. My psychoanalytic theoretical position is both Freudian (from an Ego Psychology perspective) and based in Object Relations. Within Object Relations, I am most informed by Winnicott and Fairbairn. I don’t subscribe to any psychoanalytic or environmentally-based etiology theories that include such explanations of transsexualism as a defense against homosexuality; based on the mother’s emotional state; stem-ming from insecure attachment to the mother or other prob-lems in the family dynamic (Greenson 1966; Bak 1968; Green-acre 1969; Stoller 1970; Ovesey and Person 1973; 1976; Coates 1990). The type of work I do with these individuals takes a non-pathologizing stance and does not try to figure out how they became transgender. Rather it centers on helping gender variant individuals be who they authentically feel themselves to be. |
| Page range | pp. 357–367 |
| Print length | 11 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |