that cultural standards determined by men rewarded or punished
women for adhering to or rejecting stereotyped roles. As a result, I
joined a handful of feminist colleagues in the Northern California
Psychiatric Society and in the American Psychiatric Association.
BINOCULAR VISION INTO THE
PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN
During the same period that I was acquiring a feminist perspective,
I was simultaneously becoming a Jungian analyst. After completing
my psychiatric residency in 1966, I entered the C. G. Jung Institute
of San Francisco as a candidate in the training program and was
certified as an analyst in 1976. My perspective on the psychology of
women grew steadily over this period, incorporating feminist in-
sights with Jungian archetypal psychology.
It felt as if I were bridging two worlds as I ventured back and forth
between Jungian analysts and feminist psychiatrists. My Jungian
colleagues didn’t bother much with what was going on in the
political and social world. Most seemed only vaguely aware of the
relevance of the women’s movement. My feminist friends in psychi-
atry, if they thought of me as a Jungian analyst at all, seemed to
consider this aspect either an esoteric, mystical interest of mine or
a respected subspecialty having little to do with women’s issues. In
shuttling back and forth, meanwhile, I’ve discovered that a new
depth of understanding results when the two perspectives—Jungian
and feminist—are taken together. The two provide binocular vision
into the psychology of women.
The Jungian perspective has made me aware that women are in-
fluenced by powerful inner forces, or archetypes, which can be per-
sonified by Greek goddesses. And the feminist perspective has given
me an understanding of how outer forces, or stereotypes—the roles
to which society expects women to conform—reinforce some goddess
patterns and repress others. As a result, I see every woman as a
“woman-in-between”: acted on from within by goddess archetypes
and from without by cultural stereotypes.
Once a woman becomes aware of forces that influence
Goddesses in Everywoman