ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes the phrase positioned therapies as an umbrella term to designate a range of therapeutic approaches that attend to the interplay of language, social discourse, and power in people’s lives. The authors recount their own versions of positioned therapy through their work with women dealing with eating disorders and men who have used abuse in intimate relationships. Both sets of practice are concerned with how social justice is enacted in relation to gender. The prevalent tendency towards sharp-edged dichotomies (e.g., client vs. therapist expertise; personal agency/resistance vs. constraining cultural discourses; feelings of power vs. powerlessness) is unpacked and critiqued for failing to do justice to the complexity of lived experience and thus shutting down fruitful therapeutic possibilities. Brown characterizes women as using “body talk” to “resource” their bodies with the intent of gaining a greater sense of control in their lives. This practice can be understood both as the reproduction of and resistance to dominant social scripts. Augusta-Scott examines men’s actions in relation to the discourses associated with dominant masculinity in which they are immersed. He also eschews hard-edged dichotomies, drawing attention to both their desires for controlling relationships and their desire for caring, fair relationships. Ultimately both authors explore ways that dominant discourses are complicit in provoking unjust practice towards self and others, while offering examples of practice that encourages acts of resistance.
