ABSTRACT
Other areas beyond the clinical practice of psychoanalysis influenced by Sigmund Freud’s work include what is now called gender politics. They comprise both feminist issues and issues currently described as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans. Freud himself was no feminist. He was conservative in his attitude to women’s proper social role. He deplored the sexual repression of middle class women contributing to their becoming neurotic. He described as ‘bondage’ the rights exercised by men over their wives. And he drew attention to what he described as ‘narcissism of minor differences’ contributing to men ‘despising’ women. He also persisted in his patriarchalism and celebration of men in contrast to women. Despite his heterosexist attitude, Freud did not regard gay or lesbian sexuality — homosexuality, he called it — as in itself requiring psychoanalytic treatment. As well as being less sexist and heterosexist than in the past, psychoanalysts today are also more liberal about trans issues.
