The play was inspired by the Freud London Museum exhibit: So This Is The Strong Sex: Early Women Psychoanalysts. This dramatic reading illuminates the lives and struggles of the female psychoanalysts who were closest to Freud: Sabina Spielrein, Anna Freud, Lou Andreas Salomé, Maria Bonaparte, and the story of their unique relationships with Freud. These pioneer female psychoanalysts challenged Sigmund Freud’s stereotypical ideas of the feminine, grounded in the 19th/early 20th century patriarchal social order. The contrast between gender relations today and gender relations in Freud’s time point to varying socio-cultural attitudes and psychoanalytic treatment principles over time.

Learning Objectives: After attending the presentation, participants will be able to
– Explain the dynamic between intra-psychic and cultural misogyny revealed in the unique relationships between Sigmund Freud and these four early women disciples.
– Describe different ways in which gender stereotypes were constricting for these women; the challenge