ABSTRACT
In recovered memory, an adult woman who for many years has had no recollection of being sexually abused during her childhood recalls incidents of such abuse. Recent years have seen a marked rise in cases of recovered memory, and this phenomenon raises difficult questions about the reliability of memory after lengthy periods of amnesia. Meyers shifts the focus of debate away from questions about whether memories can be repressed and how to decide whether recovered memories are accurate. She examines the imagery of femininity and heterosexuality that psychoanalysis helped to bring into cultural currency, considers how this imagery shapes memory, and argues that feminists should regard this imagery as pernicious.
