Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book outlines the ways in which the authors have thought about gender and how a feminist conceptualization of gender opens up a space for the constraints on both men and women to be addressed. It explores constructivism, post-modernism, and social constructionism and their usefulness to feminist practice as well as some of the contradictions that emerge from them. The book looks at concepts of self in our culture, takes social constructionist ideas further, and develops a framework for understanding selfhood through gendered experience. It describes narrative approaches to systemic therapy which, being based on recovering lost stories and lost knowledge, connect with feminist thinking and can validate and empower women's experience in particular. The book provides longer descriptions of our clinical work, including sections of transcripts that illustrate in more depth some of the ways in which we apply our thinking.