The Colonial Pact of Psychoanalysis and Violence Against Women

Violence against women is often approached in psychoanalysis in two ways: as a reaction to the feminine, understood as a marker of 'castration', and through the notions of helplessness and the drive dimension implicated in violence.

This online discussion from Freud Museum London takes a different direction: asking to what extent the very concepts used to think about violence against women are rooted in a colonial framework.

When gender and race are understood as tools of epistemological critique, it becomes possible to recognise that some psychoanalytic formulations may themselves reinforce violence against women through their own assumptions and colonial influences. Taking this tension as a starting point, we'll critically examine psychoanalysis itself and consider how the ideal of masculinity and the possibility of moving beyond colonial frameworks might open new ways of thinking about violence against women.

This event will be delivered online in Portuguese.