Psychoanalysis and Feminism

This is a courageous book, one that is likely to have a deep impact on the theoretical development of the women's movement. In the book, Freud, who has been the movement's bête notr, is first cleansed of all traces of anti-feminism and then elevated as the movement's principal theorist. Brashly defying so many axioms of feminism, Mitchell is likely to arouse a storm of controversy. Having learned of Mitchell's thesis in this book, I opened its pages with eager sympathy. I too think the feminist criticisms of Freud are misplaced and unfounded. And I also regard Freud as a thinker whose positions clarify the social world for radicals, especially for feminists.