The central concept of Feminist Therapy is the concern for the psychological oppression of women and the socialization of women that affects their individual identity development. Feminist Therapy incorporates a worldview that no one should be constrained to the stereotypical roles based on their gender (Corey, 2013). It focuses on creating a therapeutic setting where clients can work towards their own empowerment, as well as to learn how to communicate with others in ways that are accountable, healthy, and caring (Corey, 2013). Adolescents is a time of significant life transitions in which young adults learn to cope with changes that are brought about by physical and emotional maturation (Sands and Howard-Hamilton, 1994). During this time girls begin to become more aware of themselves as females, and learn to identify society’s signals to conform appropriately to their gender (Sands and Howard-Hamilton, 1994). The high school girls that are present in this writers program are starting to understand that they can use their bodies to get attention from boys therefore making them value their individual beauty. Some girls have identified that the “boys” that they like do not value them for their brains, but for their beauty and therefore this is where high school becomes a popularity contest, and academically their grades begin to suffer. This is where group therapy may fit well with the spirit of feminist therapy (Corey, 2013). Although traditional Feminist Therapy focuses on oppression and powerlessness, we as a group we could explore other feminist topics such as gender role identity, self-worth, and their places in society. By doing this they could gain a firm grasp of their self-worth, and hopefull... ... middle of paper ... ...of feminist therapy would be appropriate when working in a group setting, the therapy as a whole would not be beneficial for adolescents because of their limited understanding of our society as a whole, as well as not fitting with this writer personal beliefs. Understanding the ethical and multi-cultural aspects of this field is extremely important and plays an integral role when creating change. In order to gain a true understanding and develop a trusting relationship with a client, one must respect and understand their culture and religious beliefs. Not understanding, or being ignorant to a culture could be detrimental to the success of the client, as well as the therapeutic relationship. Unfortunately, we as humans form biases unknowingly; but as Linzer (1999) states “the beginning of wisdom is to come to grips with complexity, not to sweep it under the rug”.
Female beauty ideals are an overwhelming force in teen media. Approximately 37% of articles in leading magazines for teen girls emphasize a focus on physical appearance. This is none to surprising considering two of the top contenders in this media genre are Seventeen and Teen Vogue. CosmoGIRL and Elle Girl were among the ranks of popular teen magazines, but in recent years have become exclusively online publications. Add in a dash of publications Tiger Beat and Bop, and it becomes glaringly obvious that girls are charged with the prime directive of looking good to get the guy. The story becomes more disturbing when the actual audience, which includes girls at least as young as eleven years old, is considered. In a stage when girls are trying for the first time to establish their identities, top selling publications are telling them that their exteriors should be their primary concern of focus. Of course, this trend doesn’t stop with magazines. A study conducted in 1996 found a direct correlation between the “amount of time an adolescent watches soaps, movies and music videos” a...
In this book therapist Mary Pipher writes about her experiences at work with adolescent girls. It is intended to make the reader aware of the perils of being a teenager in today's sexualized and media-saturated culture. She talks about how this new and more hostile environment affects adolescent girls' emotional growth and development, and how hard it is to stay true to yourself while trying to fit in with peers. For the most part this book is Dr. Pipher's attempt to reach out to adolescents, as well as their parents and teachers, and tell them that this "problem without a name" is not a death sentence but rather a journey to adulthood, and tells adults how to help these impressionable young girls through what might be the most trying period of their lives.
MacKay, J. (2010). Profile of Bonnie Strickland. In A. Rutherford (Ed.), Psychology's Feminist Voices Multimedia Internet Archive. Retrieved from http://www.feministvoices.com/bonnie-strickland/
Gary, Faye, Linda M. Sigsby, and Doris Campbell. "FEMINISM: A PERSPECTIVE FOR THE 21St CENTURY." Issues In Mental Health Nursing 19.2 (1998): 139-152. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 May 2016.
The purpose of this essay is to connect the feminist theory to the film “The Help,” and underlie certain ideas that are demonstrated throughout the film. I specifically chose this film, because it takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 19060s during the time Jim Crow laws were still very much alive, and practiced. Skeeter, a young white Caucasian woman has just graduated and returned home from attending Ole Miss to take care of her fairly sick mother. Aside from her associates and colleagues, who are more into finding a husband on their time off from Ole Miss, Skeeter focuses all of her time into becoming a journalist. Throughout the film family servants are well within each white family social circle, they are referred to as “The Help,” and are exclusively black women. As tradition the servants are passed down throughout family generations, which means the child they raised would become their boss in the future. Each servant had their own story to tell and conflicts of their own to deal with, including Skeeter. As time progresses Skeeter decides to write a column on the black servants in relation to their white bosses, with the help of her fifty-year-old servant Aibileen Clark. Hesitant to help, Aibleen along with other black servants gather to tell their different stories while accepting the consequences it will bring. As a feminist, it is one who supports feminism, which is the advocacy of women’s right on the grounds of politics, social, and equality to men, but in this case white women as well. Throughout the essay are explorations of the different issues relevant to feminism.
Similarly, inferiority feelings may be challenged to offset the negative concepts and values that form the roots of social and emotional issues. Group therapy can facilitate the social context in which the participants may develop the sense of belonging and community. Some of the beneficial dynamics of the group are the identification between group members’ behavior, participants can benefit from others group members’ feedback, ability to help other and receive support from others members. The group enables the possibility of trying new behaviors and encourages the other students to take action over their lives. There are four stages in group therapy that correspond to four goals in counseling: first establishing and maintaining interconnected relationships with another student of the group; the therapy is based on the idea of equality between members, mutual respect, and identical involvement. The introduction of self-rule bases from the counselor, who is the mediator, is important. Both, students and counselor work together in the process to explore and look for positive change during the sessions (Corey,
As a nurse, I am obligated to care for all cultures, and try to understand their values, beliefs, spirituality, gender roles, and language. Cultures can range from different families, environments, disabilities, or even genders. It is a very broad topic, and I hope to recognize these cultures in my nursing career. Some barriers may exist that can make it challenging to work with people of a different culture, but it is possible to overcome these with the resources within the health care system. The Health Policy Institute identifies that “[t]he goal of culturally competent health care services is to provide the highest quality of care to every patient, regardless of race, ethnicity, cultural background, English proficiency or literacy” (“Cultural Competence”, 2004). Additionally, cultural competence is an ongoing process that involves both the client, and health care professional to work together that best suits the client’s
Cultural Competence is important for many reasons. First, it can help develop culturally sensitive practices which can in turn help reduce barriers that affect treatment in health care settings. Second, it can help build understanding, which is critical in competence, in order wards knowing whom the person recognizes as a health care professional and whom they views as traditional healer, can aid the development of trust and improve the individual’s investment and participation in treatment. Third, our population in the United States is not only growing quickly but also changing, cultural competence will allow us as educators and healthcare workers keep up wi...
Feminist criticism focuses on girls and their relationships between the girls and their males. It is important to use this lens because the issue I used is over domestic violence and how they are used. In my essay I was explaining how abusing people isn’t a good thing in the essay. Some people always thought that abusing others was a good thing because they have been abused for so
There are different perspectives, however, which put stress on various aspects of culture and try to identify its boundaries and its substitutes. Some regard culture as separate entity from demographic factors, some point out acculturation as one of the obstacles, which makes culture difficult to identify, some show how an intimate and meaningful relationship between a counsellor and a culturally different client to be established. In this essay I will be discussing what the different concepts of understanding of culture in Counselling are, by examining different authors and perspectives and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses.
My theoretical orientation can best be described as a mixture of Person-centered therapy and feminist therapy. Where person-centered therapy is all about being aware of oneself and feminist therapy encourages personal empowerment. Those two together create a great theme of evolving to become something greater in life. I believe that human behavior is a result of feeling like you, have a sense of belonging in the world. Similar to what Maslow’s hierarchy, people need to feel a sense of love in order to be happy and confident in one’s self. Once they are content with themselves as result, they will project that same love towards others. When considering my approach, I want clients to be authentic and confident in who they are. The individual
Diaries hold the most precious secrets that a young girl can have. This includes secrets about boys, embarrassing stories, arguments with parents, and also the true confessions of the transition into womanhood. In Joan Jacobs Brumberg’s book, The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls, she examines the struggle with confidence and body image in adolescent girls not only in today's generation but in past generations as well. Brumberg states that “the process of sexual maturation is more difficult for girls today than it was a century ago because of a set of historical changes that have resulted in a particular mismatch between girls’ biology and today’s culture” explaining that the expectations of today’s culture are too demanding for an adolescent girl to uphold when the physical changes, such as weight gain and acne, become prevalent after puberty (Brumberg xvii).
Extending feminist standpoint theory to individuals is consistent with versions of feminism due to the commonality of each’s emphasis on context and relationships, and each’s critique of stereotypically conceived gender roles (Mahowald, 1996, 101). Mahowald (1996) says that the focus on context and relationships involves attention to the many kinds of relationships that individuals women have, both to others and others to them (101). In this sense, an expanded version of standpoint theory continues to maintain a critical attitude towards the relationships and roles that support the oppression of women against the domination of men, whether as groups or individuals. Critical consideration is then given to the diversity of both individual and group women’s
In American culture today, society's view of beauty is controlled by Hollywood, where celebrities are constantly in the lime-light. The media watches Hollywood's every move, and is quick to ridicule “A-listers” whenever they dare to gain a few pounds or to let an uncontrollable pimple show. The media has created a grossly distorted mental image of what should be considered beautiful, and with almost every junior high and high school-age girl reading and viewing this message, the idea has been instilled in them as well. This view of beauty is causing many teenage girls to become obsessed with a highly problematic and unattainable goal of perfection.
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional or philosophical dissertation. It helps to explain the main nature of gender inequality. It further explains the social roles of women in the society such as education, communication, philosophy, sociology and so on (Chodrow, Nancy 1991).