ABSTRACT
Splitting, dis-identifying, and the hate of the Othered, not only bankrupt us ethically/morally, but also exact a heavy price for ALL participants. In our contemporary world, we have experienced both patriarchy, and its twin White Supremacy, as being both under siege and in power. We have a rich psychoanalytic vocabulary for intra-psychic splitting; however, our canon tends to guide us away from the larger geo-bio-political forces that run through us, forces that ask us to separate out: who is allowed to exist, and who is to become our “unperson”: the Other? In this chapter, the author uses short vignettes from couples’ therapy to illustrate the price the Othering party pays.
