What is Feminine Psychology?

What is feminine psychology? The phrase ‘feminine psychology’ was coined by psychoanalyst Karen Horney. In her theory of feminine psychology, Horney challenged the traditional Freudian view of feminine psychology and female sexual development. This was important because Freud’s theories on women, especially the concept of ‘penis envy’ were completely wacky. I say this as someone who loves parts of Freud’s work, but he really bungled a lot of the sex stuff. Horney countered with her theory on ‘womb envy’ claiming that men repressed women in part bc they were jealous of the ability of females to become pregnant and give birth! Many other psychoanalysts since then have contributed to her original ideas about specifically female psychology.

When I talk about feminine psychology, I’m taking into account this previous work, but also focusing primarily on the fact that women are cyclical beings and operate on a 28-day cycle rather than a 24 hr cycle. We have different feelings, energetic patterns, nutrition needs, and even look different at different times of the month. This can make women’s needs psychologically quite different than men, although of course there’s still a lot of overlap.

Women also have direct access to the life/death/life cycle moving through our bodies each month. There is an opportunity for tuning in deeply each month to the rhythm of creativity and release and this can 100% be accessed to address and work through psychological challenges and issues in our lives. I don’t know if womb envy is a real thing but the more I learn about women’s health and the intricacies of our hormonal cycles, the more totally nuts it is to address women’s mental health w/out taking into account our cycles.