ABSTRACT
This chapter positions patriarchal authority as a set of myths, half-truths and outright falsehoods dressed up as accepted wisdom. Taking the Hans Christian Anderson tale of the “Emperor's New Clothes” as a metaphor for the empty lies of patriarchy I ask where psychoanalysts might fit within this moral parable. With a classical understanding of the analytic prerogative of rendering what is unconscious conscious, we might consider ourselves like the young boy of the tale, helping our patients see the social inequities and false authorities that are otherwise veiled by distortion and denial. With the relational turn and increasing awareness of the analytic power differential an alternative interpretation emerges. Analyst, not simply as truthsayer, but also as emperor (adorning herself with false coverings to hide her humanity) and the patient as the all-seeing boy. From this perspective, the analytic goal is not the creation of insight so much as facilitating the move into a relationship of mutual recognition – in which both analyst and patient are able to know what they know and see what they see. Deconstructionist critiques – particularly those drawing on Feminism and Critical Race Theory – suggest a third reading: analysts as the swindlers of the tale, our theories, diagnostics, and techniques – a yarn of lies – designed to silence dissent and mystify oppression. With each interpretation, the reader is challenged to consider anew the relationship between psychoanalysis and the ethical ideal of speaking truth to power and the ways in which psychoanalysis can be both a powerful tool to demystify and dismantle patriarchal power structures and norms, but also a weapon of patriarchal control.
