The Reversal of Roe v. Wade and the Psychological Assault on Women: Discussion of Papers by Sally Bjorklund and Hillary Grill

In their papers, Sally Bjorklund and Hillary Grill investigate the negative impact of the reversal of Roe v. Wade on women's ability to choose when and how to manage their bodies and minds. Bjorklund offers an historical perspective, while Grill presents personal and clinical material to illustrate how misogyny and male dominance are reinforced through the intersection of externally imposed laws, socially transmitted beliefs, and the perpetuation of such beliefs through models of mind that implicitly devalue women—models such as psychoanalysis. I invite psychoanalysts to continue to interrogate misogyny while also asking how our clinical work might challenge and change psychoanalytic theorizing about female development, theorizing that continues to pathologize women and valorize male dominance.