Feminism and/in/as psychology: The public sciences of sex and gender.

Abstract

In our introduction to this special issue on the histories of feminism, gender, sexuality, and the psy-disciplines, we propose the tripartite framework of "feminism and/in/as psychology" to conceptualize the dynamics of their conjoined trajectories and relationship to gender and sexuality from the late 19th through the late 20th centuries. "Feminism and psychology" highlights the tensions between a political movement and a scientific discipline and the efforts of participants in each to problematize the other. "Feminism in psychology" refers to those historical moments when self-identified feminists intervened in psychology to alter its content, methodologies, and populations. We propose, as have others, that these interventions predate the 1970s, the period most commonly associated with the "founding" of feminist psychology. Finally, "feminism as psychology/psychology as feminism" explores the shared ground between psychology and feminism-the conceptual, methodological, and (more rarely) epistemological moments when psychology and feminism made common cause. We suggest that the traffic between feminism and psychology has been persistent, continuous, and productive, despite taking different historically and geographically contingent forms.

Queer signs: The women of the British projective test movement

“…In their recent discussion of feminism and/in/as Psychology, Rutherford and Pettit () argued that there is a need for more lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans (LGBT), and intersex history within feminist histories of psychology. This paper goes some way to contribute to that effort.…”

“…This paper goes some way to contribute to that effort. Indeed, Rutherford and Pettit () also criticized historians’ conception that the middle of the twentieth century was a “silent” period of feminist action. This paper maintains a focus on the middle of the twentieth century in effort to recognize this issue and go some way to remove this silence.…”

“Making better use of U.S. women” Psychology, sex roles, and womanpower in post‐WWII America

“…By highlighting the participation of Jahoda, Jones, and Maccoby in the CEW and NMC Womanpower conferences, I also contribute to relocating the history of feminist concerns outside the academy, thus tracing the “leakages” between psychology and its publics. As Michael Pettit and I have written, “Debates over the nature and nurture of women's minds often take place in the contentious public sphere rather than the insulated ivory tower because they have real implications for policy and everyday life” (Rutherford & Pettit, , p. 231). Debates over putting women's minds to work had significant implications for national‐level policy all the way down to the daily conduct of family life.…”

Psicología y género, nuevos desafíos

“…Hace unos meses, cuando el equipo editorial de la Revista de Psicología nos invitara a trabajar en la edición de una sección especial de psicología y género, no nos imaginamos que la propuesta resultaría tan atractiva ni que nos encontraríamos con tanta diversidad de aproximaciones al tema (se recibieron 30 manuscritos para su evaluación). La mirada desde el estudio de la historia de la disciplina ya nos había permitido observar que en la investigación tradicional en psicología se tiende a omitir, por medio de la generalización de discursos hegemónicos, la atención a las diferencias genéricas derivadas de variables demográficas y socioculturales (entre otras), evidenciando con ello procesos de desigualdad y discriminación social que operan en la construcción del conocimiento al interior de la disciplina (Rutherford & Pettit, 2015;Winkler & Reyes, 2010). Pero sabíamos también que la inclusión de teorías feministas, nuevas masculinidades, minorías sexuales e identidades que, entre otras intersecciones, había complejizado el desarrollo de los estudios de género y esperábamos que esta situación se reflejara también en nuestro campo disciplinar.…”