In the middle of Los Angeles, I parse through her work and note how timeless it all feels. In London, there is a center named after her that provides services for families and children. Around the world, people study her contributions to the field of psychoanalysis. Her charitable endeavors for children orphaned by the losses of World War II were both an expression of her altruism and a manifestation of her intellectual pursuits with infant development. She was a lover of poetry—especially Rainer Maria Rilke. Anna Freud has my heart on International Women’s Day.
Another figure, prolific in her contributions and unapologetic in the expression of her ideas, made radical shifts in the field of psychoanalysis and her ideas have become part of our common lexicon. As free-thinking and outspoken intellectual women are wont to do, she caused controversy. It was the kind of controversy that invites discourse, confrontation, and letting go of old ideas. She was my favorite triad: “intelligent, outspoken, and challenging the male-dominated view of society”[1]. Something about her elicits provocative and polarized responses. Am I for or against? Do I subscribe or reject? Although study of her work does not have to be so split, it does feel like something of a parallel to the “controversial discussions” of the early 1940’s in which you were either with her, with Anna Freud, or with the Middle Group of psychoanalysis. Today, the reverberations of her work continue all over the world. Melanie Klein—Happy International Women’s Day to you!
My hope is that my love for these two Queens of Psychoanalysis can be one part of what we aim to accomplish on International Women’s Day (IWD). We celebrate women (part one—easy, I got this) and we engage in targeted action to advance gender parity (part two—not so easy, let’s figure it out together). So what is International Women’s Day actually about?
In contrast to the visible role of men in history, politics, and culture, women have shaped society in powerful ways that have often been made invisible. We have made many strides and trudged many miles, and March 8th marks a conscious acknowledgement of women: “The world has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation may feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy”[2].
So, the other salient question is this: what can we do? We need only look at this year’s theme for IWD: Be Bold for Change. IWD 2017 is about deliberate and active celebration of women’s accomplishments around the world and a call to collaborative action from men, women, and non-binary people to advance gender parity. I am going to try to celebrate and act here by calling upon my Queens Anna and Melanie to help us figure it out. Here are three ways you can #beboldforchange this International Women’s Day:
- Use your Mature Ego Defense Mechanism: Sublimation
Defense mechanisms can sometimes have a negative connotation in colloquial language (ex: don’t get so defensive). But not so, says Anna Freud. Mature defense mechanisms can be healthy ways to navigate through the world and some even have altruistic elements. Sublimation is transforming conflicted or unacceptable impulses into productive outlets. A fun example would be a surgeon who expresses her hostile impulses by “cutting people up” in the operating room. Have some destructive impulses when you look around and see the wage gap, gender inequality, women suffering at in your community and around the world? Anna would say,‘Yep, harness it and use it to campaign for the prevention of violence against women, support a female-owned business, or to speak up when you hear stereotype or bias.’
- Let Your Unconscious Phantasy Fly
Klein introduced the idea of unconscious Phantasy based on her work with infants and children. Phantasy, according to her, is what infant children (and by that, I mean all of us) “encounter” in their minds as they (we) make their (our) way through the reality that they (we) are learning to grasp and know. Unconscious Phantasy interacts reciprocally with experience to form the developing intellectual and emotional characteristics of the individual, according to Klein[3]. Phantasies are considered to be a basic capacity underlying and shaping thought and dream. What do you imagine for women around the world? How do you envision supporting women and ensuring that the future for girls is bright, safe, enriching, and equal? Bring the unconscious phantasy into consciousness by contributing to the deepest dream you have for women. Make it happen through meaningful celebration and targeted bold action. Launch or fund a women-focused scholarship, create new opportunities for women, and applaud the success of women leaders.
- Be Your Own Anna or Melanie
Anna Freud and Melanie Klein paved the way for many female psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and researchers; and continue to be influential to this day. Incredible intellect, passion, conflict, and vision drove their work. What are you passionate about? How can you be bold for change? When you look around your community and see the needs of women, or you think globally and want to act locally, know that you are not alone. Now is the time to celebrate the women who have come before you and create change for the women who will come after you.
Although she penned this letter in 1968, Anna Freud lends us a thought that seems so timely this International Women’s Day:
“…You have to have a great love of the truth, scientific truth as well as personal truth, and you have to place this appreciation of truth higher than any discomfort at meeting unpleasant facts, whether they belong to the world outside or to your own inner person”[4].
We need International Women’s Day more than ever, to look within at our deepest truth and to look around and take an honest appraisal of what we can do to make things better. We can come together and #Beboldforchange.
Sources
- Hinshelwood, R. D., Robinson, S., & Zarate, O. (2011). Introducing Melanie Klein. London: Totem Books.
- #BeBoldForChange. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme
- Melanie Klein trust. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.melanie-klein-trust.org.uk/unconscious-phantasy
- From a letter written by Anna Freud in. Kohut, Heinz (1968). “Heinz Kohut: The evaluation of applicants for psychoanalytic training”. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis and Bulletin of the International Psycho-Analytical Association. 49: 548–554 (552–553).
