ABSTRACT
In the American universities, feminist political theory gradually moved to a structuralism without Anna Freud; its counterpart in literary studies claimed to embrace Freud via structuralism and poststructuralism. Psychoanalysis had been hampered all along because analysts had been unable to demonstrate its cures concretely and incontrovertibly. In American postmodern feminism, the articulation of differences, transgressions, and the subversion of identity are challenging entrenched heterosexual norms and often have called for concrete, political action such as demonstrations and changes in the legal system. By the end of the 1980s, the radicalization of American feminism, took two different (though not always separate or distinguishable) directions. Intent on changing basic social values, the gay movement staged political events and advanced provocative, radical theories. In order to influence and institute these ends, political theorists extended their hypotheses to advocate changes in laws affecting child care, abortion, health insurance, and welfare that would permanently ensure the institutionalization of a new set of values.
