feminist psychology

feminist psychology

approaches to psychology which draw on FEMINIST THEORY to critique mainstream psychology for its tendency to focus on the experience of men as the ‘norm’. Its aim, therefore, is to both incorporate an understanding of womens psychological experience and also detail the often sexist and heterosexist underpinnings of much mainstream psychological research. Many feminist psychologists in the UK take a critical approach, drawing on different combinations of social constructionism (see also SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY), POSTMODERNISM or psychoanalytic theory (see also PSYCHOANALYSIS) in order to question how GENDER is constructed and to challenge gender inequality and ‘common-sense’ understandings of gender difference. Feminist psychologists understand that ‘women do not constitute a homogeneous group, and seek to understand other divisions which impact on womens lives, such as social class, ethnicity and sexual orientation. There are recurrent debates within feminist psychology about the political expediency of taking relativistic (see also RELATIVISM) or psychoanalytic approaches (because of the latter's phallocentrism), as these challenge the standpoint from which a feminist researcher can make claims. see also CRITICAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY.