Claudette Kulkarni – A call to rehabilitate Jung’s theory on “The sexes”
June 17, 2024 at 07:12AM
ABSTRACT
In some ways, Jung was ahead of his time. With his concept of anima/animus, he recognized that men and women share human qualities. Unfortunately, that’s where he (and Analytical Psychology) got stuck—partly because the concept of opposites dominated his thinking and partly because he could not see beyond his various presupposition about males and females. He could not imagine men and women as anything but opposites or through anything but stereotypical terms and preconceived norms. And he could not get past dividing human qualities into “masculine” and “feminine.” In this presentation, I will outline the concepts and building blocks that shaped Jung’s thinking about sex, gender, and opposites, discuss the problems his theory presents for post-Jungian thinkers, offer some alternative ideas to Jung’s reliance on ‘othering’ and opposites, and invite you to think with me on ways we might rehabilitate and rejuvenate Jungian theory on “the sexes” in order to bring it into the 21st century.
BIO
CLAUDETTE KULKARNI, PhD, is a retired Jungian psychotherapist living in Pittsburgh, PA (USA). Over the course of her career, she worked at several nonprofit settings: as Clinical Therapist/Supervisor at a local LGBTQIA+ mental health center; as Clinical Therapist in the Forensic Unit of a behavioral health agency (working primarily with sex offenders); and as the Therapist at a local women’s center (working primarily with survivors of childhood sexual abuse). As a post-Jungian, Kulkarni is concerned with challenging Jungian theory on sex, gender, and sexuality from the perspective of making it more inclusive and more relevant for everyone. Her most important book is Lesbians and Lesbianisms: A Post-Jungian Perspective (Routledge 1997).
ABOUT PSYCHOSOCIAL WEDNESDAYS
Every Wednesday evening, Sigmund Freud convened with colleagues in the waiting room of his Viennese practice at Berggasse 19, uncovering and debating profound ideas within the realm of psychoanalysis. C.G. Jung extended this idea by establishing a Psychological Club in Zurich, a clubhouse that became a similar setting to share ideas and offer a space where the inner, often isolating work of the soul could find harmony through exchange with others. Since 2020, Psychosocial Wednesdays, a digital salon, has integrated the concepts developed by these pioneers by offering a global platform for colleagues from diverse psychological
disciplines to share their ideas and creative works.
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