ABSTRACT
Sluzki discusses the need to be aware of problematic issues regarding gender roles and hegemonic behavior without violating cultural boundaries with families raised in cultures where those themes, such as the subordinate role of women, are rarely questioned. The discussion centers on a clinical consultation with a Moroccan Islamic family that had lived in Europe for 12 years and presented what the culture of adoption considered parental violence, as well as possible psychotic symptoms in children. Sluzki reflects on his own prejudices as a feminist male therapist working with this family, and the conflict between promoting women’s rights, and thereby alienating the father-husband, or acquiescing to a misogynist patriarchal structure while attempting minor power shifts. The process of reciprocal calibration between therapist and patients during the therapeutic encounter constitutes an arena where our prejudices and our patients’ prejudices are displayed and elaborated.
