Syllabus PT 140 Socio-Cultural Influences on Maturation and ...

<strong>Syllabus</strong>
<strong>PT</strong> <strong>140</strong> <strong>Socio</strong>-<strong>Cultural</strong> <strong>Influences</strong> on Maturation and Psychopathology:
Sexual Identity and the Media
R. Sacks Spring 2013
Thu. 5:30-7:20
45 Clock Hours
Course Description
This course explores the impact of society and culture on the individual’s sense of one’s gender and
sexual identity.
Starting with Freud’s original theory of sexual development evolving into post-modern theories of
gender and sexuality, the class will discuss contemporary psychoanalytic thinking on human sexuality.
Examples will be studied from diverse media presentations (TV, movies, news media) that emphasize
conflicts related to gender and sexuality.
Objectives
The student will be able to:
• identify how socio-cultural phenomena impact the psycho-sexual development of the individual;
• develop psychoanalytic critical thinking through writing critical reviews of media events; and
• identify and discuss issues of gender and sexuality within themselves and their patients which
might impact their clinical training experience.
Lab Component
There is a weekly lab component in addition to class work. Students will be required to view and/or read
a media (film, tv, video, article) presentation and submit a weekly review of their selection.
Method of Evaluation
1. Participation in class discussions.
2. Weekly submission of critical reviews.
3. Weekly logs.
4. Final paper. Final paper will be a 5-8 page paper, following the APA style, which focuses on a
media presentation which incorporates the issues of gender and sexuality from the sociocultural/psychoanalytic
perspective. References required.
Assigned Readings
Class 1
Green, A. (1995). Has sexuality anything to do with psychoanalysis International Journal of
Psychoanalysis, 76, 871-883.
Class 2
Chodorow, N.J. (1992). Heterosexuality as a compromise formation: Reflections on the psychoanalytic
theory of sexual development. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 15, 267-304.
<strong>PT</strong> <strong>140</strong> <strong>Socio</strong>-<strong>Cultural</strong> <strong>Influences</strong> on Maturation and Psychopathology Spring 2013 Page 1 of 3
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Class 3
Drescher, J. (2011, September 25). Watching Chaz Bono dance with Lacey is not harmful to children.
Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psychoanalysis-30/201109/watchingchaz-bono-dance-lacey-is-not-harmful-children
McDougall, J. (1995). Femininity and sexuality (Part I). In The many faces of eros (pp. 3-49). New
York, NY: W.W. Norton.
ISS #1
See a play. Go to a movie.
Class 4
Chodorow, N.J. (2012). Freud’s Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality: A reading. In Individualizing
gender and sexuality: Theory and practice (pp. 27-39). New York, NY: Routledge.
McDougall, J. (1986). Identifications, neoneeds and neosexualities. International Journal of
Psychoanalysis, 67, 19-30.
Class 5
Bernstein, A. (2001). The genital psychoanalyst. Modern Psychoanalysis, 26, 191-201.
Class 6
Chodorow, N.J. (2012). Gender on the modern/postmodern and classical/relational divide: Untangling
history and epistemology. In Individualizing gender and sexuality: Theory and practice (pp. 73-
89). New York, NY: Routledge.
Harris, A. (2005). Gender in linear and nonlinear history. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association, 53, 1079-1095.
Class 7
D’Ercole, A. (2001). Postmodern ideas about gender and sexuality: The lesbian woman redundancy. In
S. Kiersky and E. Gould (Eds.), Sexualities lost and found: Lesbians, psychoanalysis, and culture
(pp. 179-195). Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Class 8
Kiersky, S. (2001). Exiled desire: The problem of reality in psychoanalysis and lesbian experience. In S.
Kiersky and E. Gould (Eds.), Sexualities lost and found: Lesbians, psychoanalysis, and culture
(pp. 25-42). Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Sand, S. (2001). Daring desire: Lesbian sexuality in popular music. In S. Kiersky and E. Gould (Eds.),
Sexualities lost and found: Lesbians, psychoanalysis, and culture (pp. 237-246). Madison, CT:
International Universities Press.
ISS #2
Go to the movies.
Class 9
Benjamin, J. (1996). In defense of gender ambiguity. Gender and Psychoanalysis, 1, 27-43.
Seccarelli, P. (1995). Transsexualism: Nature or counter-nature International Forum of Psychoanalysis,
4, 25-33.
Young-Bruehl, E. (2001). Are human beings “by nature” bisexual Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 2,
179-213.
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Class 10
Mitchell, S.A. (1978). Psychodynamics, homosexuality, and the question of pathology. Psychiatry, 41,
254-263.
Mitchell, S.A. (1981). The psychoanalytic treatment of homosexuality: Some technical considerations.
International Review of Psychoanalysis, 8, 63-80.
Class 11
Bollas, C. (1992). Cruising in the homosexual arena. In Being a character (pp. 144-165). New York,
NY: Hill and Wang.
Bruni, F. (2012, January 28). Genetic or not, gay won’t go away. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/opinion/sunday/bruni-gay-wont-go-away-genetic-ornot.html
Class 12
Chodorow, N. (2012). Homosexualities as compromise formations. In Individualizing gender and
sexuality: Theory and practice (pp. 155-174). New York, NY: Routledge.
<strong>PT</strong> <strong>140</strong> <strong>Socio</strong>-<strong>Cultural</strong> <strong>Influences</strong> on Maturation and Psychopathology Spring 2013 Page 3 of 3
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