“Homophobia: A Symptom”
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
8:30 – 10:00 PM (EST)
Description: The authors’ thesis is that the pervasive prejudices that are homophobia and/or misogyny should alert us to significant underlying pathology in development, specifically in the resolution of ordinary or expectable developmentally normative narcissistic and relational wounds and conflicts. All gender development involves trauma. Structured forms of hatred—homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and the like–signify defenses against unresolved conflicts arising from trauma. We focus on two aspects of homophobia: (1) fear of one’s drive-based aggression projected into and seen as threats from a homosexual person, and (2) symptoms of unresolved developmental conflicts that encompass competitive strivings; a maladaptive defense against feelings associated with helplessness resulting from unmet developmental needs. These needs involve the ‘seeing and being seen’ dynamic, mirroring and parental reflection, necessary for the development of a coherent and flexibly stable sense of self and identity regarding gender, sexual attraction, aggression, and competition.
David Goldenberg: is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Manhattan. He is a graduate of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute where he is on faculty. He is also on faculty at Weill Cornell Medical College where he teaches in the Brain and Behavior course and, also at Payne Whitney, where he supervises Psychiatry residents in psychodynamic psychotherapy. At NYPSI he has taught various courses and served as Director in the Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program and has held multiple administrative and educational positions, including co-teaching Freud’s Case Studies in the analytic training program. As an ongoing Adolescent Psychoanalysis Candidate, David co-teaches the Theoretical and Technical Aspects of Child Analysis in the tri-Institutional child and adolescent analytic training program; and is co-chair of the Committee on Racial Consciousness and the Diversities. He is a member of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research where he teaches a segment on mid-20th century ego psychology. He has written several book reviews for the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association; participated on panels on Psychoanalysis and the Digital Age; presented papers on digitally-mediated dating and intimacy. His latest publication is about homophobia and misogyny with a revision of psychodynamic theories of gender development.
For inquiries regarding The LGBTQ Study Group please contact co-chairs,
Esin Egit: e.egit@wawhite.org
Willa France: poetadmiral@earthlink.net