Ellyn Kaschak

Sex Bias in Student Evaluations of College Professors

Fifty male and 50 female students were asked to evaluate the teaching methods of three male and three female professors in two traditionally male, two traditionally female, and two relatively non-sex-linked fields. Each method was attributed to a male professor on one form and a female on another. A descriptive paragraph for each of the six areas was followed by six bipolar ratings scales. The different ratings assigned as a function of the sex of student and professor are discussed in relation to previous findings.

The Mattering Map: Multiplicity, Metaphor and Morphing in Contextual Theory and Practice

This article describes and elaborates upon the theoretical model of the Mattering Map, initially introduced in Engendered Lives: A New Psychology of Womens Experience (Kaschak, 1992). This model presents the principles of contextual feminist therapy in a manner that honors the complexity, multiplicity and motion or morphng of the energetic field of mattering. The mattering map is more intimately related to 21st century physics than to 19th and 20th centuries reductionist and fragmenting models of assessment or treatment. Its use in a therapeutic milieu is considered with particular guidelines for assessment and treatment.

Minding the body : psychotherapy in cases of chronic and life-threatening illness

I did not choose this topic. Rather it chose me. Would I have developed an interest in chronic and life-threatening illness had it not sought me out? I do not know. Perhaps I would have had the impulse to turn away in a self-protective gesture or to read about it only if and when I was faced with a client whose case demanded such knowledge. As is so for many of us who do not have the luxury of choice, the privilege not to deal with sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, disability or homophobia, an increasing number of us also have the choice to deal with chronic and life-threatening illness made for us. When I was growing up, cancer was not talked about, even the word itself was spoken in hushed tones, if at all. That questionable luxury has also been taken from us. Given the startling statistics involving the growing incidence of illnesses such as the many forms of cancer and autoimmune disorders among people in general and women in particular, even more of us will be directly affected by contracting one of these diseases or having someone close to us do so. Those of us who have not yet confronted these issues with clients soon will. In the United States, one in three individuals will have some form of cancer in their lifetime. The number of individuals diagnosed with the various autoimmune disorders is steadily increasing and women are differentially impacted. Women are more frequently diagnosed with these illnesses in varying ratios depending upon the specific malady (Chrisler, this volume). This does not include those who go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. As therapists we have much to learn and much to contribute to the understanding and treatment of these disorders. We must question society’s and the

The Relationship of Sex, Sex Role, and Mental Health

Mental health differences due to sex, sex-role identification, and sex-role attitudes were investigated using 109 undergraduate students. Females reported higher levels of depression and anxiety. Both males and females with more liberal scores on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale scored higher on the Well-Being Scale of the California Psychological Inventory. No differences due to androgyny were found.

Feminist Psychotherapies: Theory, Research, and Practice

The introduction and development of feminist psychotherapy was one of the many accomplishments of second wave feminism in the West and very much a product of the social and cultural context of the late 1960s and early 1970s, during which time feminism enjoyed an unparalleled resurgence in Western societies. Within a brief time, it also appeared in various cultural incarnations in many non-Western and developing countries as local and indigenous groups began to realize that women’s rights are human rights.

The Mattering Map Integrating the Complexities of Knowledge, Experience, and Meaning

This article describes and elaborates upon the theoretical model of the Mattering Map, initially introduced in Engendered Lives: A New Psychology of Women’s Experience (Kaschak, 1992). This model organizes the principles of contextual feminist theory and practice in a manner that honors the complexity, multiplicity, and morphing of the energetic field of mattering. The mattering map is more intimately related to 21st century physics, neuroscience, and constructionist thought than to the reductionist and fragmenting epistemological models of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Feminisms: Feminist Therapies in the 21st Century

In the last 40 years, feminism has made remarkable gains in western, industrialized countries. Educational systems, the workforce, political life, and economics all opened to participation by women under feminism’s analysis and activism. The very existence of culturally sanctioned violence against women and girls was ferreted out by the feminist movement. Significant gains have also been made globally, with feminists bringing about important societal changes within very conservative, patriarchal cultures. The western media appropriated these victories however, so that a generation of girls grew up knowing that women had ‘‘come a long way baby,’’ expected the progress to continue, and did not even think to question the word ‘‘baby’’ as inherently sexist and demeaning. The gains of secondwave feminists and the unconscious empowerment of Generation X allowed patriarchal backlash to create a social narrative of the ‘‘postfeminist’’ era (Adkins, 2004). This cultural trance has threatened to render feminism and feminist therapies antiquated and irrelevant in this ‘‘new’’ era that purports to be ‘‘post’’ things such as sexism, racism, classism, and a host of other -isms. Yet, the work of feminism is clearly not finished and feminist therapy is even more relevant as people navigate increasingly complicated, nuanced, and shifting identities, privileges, and oppressions. Equality has not been achieved for women—or any of the marginalized people in the United States or across the globe. Violence against women, children, and those who do not conform to socially approved gender expressions continues, often in incredibly egregious forms. Racism is rampant and becoming less subtle by the day,

Women and Cancer

Approximately one in every three women in the United States will develop cancer in her lifetime, with cancer being the second leading cause of death for U.S. women (American Cancer Society, 2013). Women are not only affected by cancer as patients and survivors, but also as cancer caregivers, both professionally and in their personal lives. These facts are true for both men and women, but the experience of cancer and cancer-related caregiving may be entangled with normative gender roles. For example, when we consider that women make 80% of family care choices (USDOL, 2013), it becomes clear that cancer is a gendered issue. Gender intersects with other of women’s salient social locations in influencing the prevalence, course, and experience of cancer. For example, in the United States, death rates for all cancers combined are 16% higher among Black women compared with those among White women (DeSantis, 2013). Reliable data on cancer incidence and mortality among sexual minority women are lacking. Information on sexual orientation is not reported, and likely not gathered, within the largest U.S. epidemiological projects, such as the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry. What we know, and what we set as our health-related priorities, cannot be separated from the questions we ask, and those we choose not to ask. These are but a few of the many circumstances that suggest the need for a feminist, intersectional framework for understanding the psychological, biomedical and social issues of cancer.

Women and Immigration: Feminist and Multicultural Perspectives on Identity, Acculturation, and Implications for Clinical Practice

The Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Immigration (2012) indicates the United States is the home of the largest number of immigrants in its history, with a large proportion migrating from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Over the past twenty years, more women than men have been migrating to the United States and Canada from a variety of countries. Immigrant women face numerous challenges to adjustment in the United States and Canada, such as language barriers, loss of family support in the country of origin, separation from children, changing gender roles and expectations, family conflicts, and changing cultural norms concerning parenting. Many women struggle with limited educational and financial resources, cope with experiences of physical and sexual violence before, during and after transit, and live with the uncertainty of unauthorized legal status. This special issue is focused on the psychological experiences of immigrant women, including new developments concerning acculturation and identity. We invited feminist and multicultural researchers and clinicians to write about a wide range of issues concerning immigrant women. The contributors consider experiences of stress and resilience and identity shifts experienced by immigrant and first generation women from diverse backgrounds. Feminist and multicultural frameworks are especially important in addressing the complexity of the immigrant experience, and as such, the

Whiteness and White Privilege

Psychologists, especially therapists, are often trained to ferret out, search and seize upon that which is not readily visible and cannot be spoken, implicit issues and influences, that are commonly taken for granted. Whether the models invoked are as diverse as those citing unconscious conflicts about love, sex and relationships or the hidden reinforcement of conditioning, psychological epistemologies are interested in making explicit that which is implicit and, in therapeutic approaches, bringing these issues into view. Feminist and multi-cultural researchers and practitioners further seek to expose the power structures that benefit them or that unfairly advantage some groups over others and so have, since their inception, striven to consider such issues as fees and sliding scales, masculinities and normative heterosexuality as unique areas of inquiry. This special issue is dedicated to adding to those issues that of Whiteness and White privilege in the therapy room, bringing to light that which is often unseen and, thus, unnamed. Whiteness has been investigated by sociologists and critical race theorists, but has been largely overlooked by psychologists and psychotherapists, even those who deal with feminist and multi-cultural issues. The designation “multi-cultural” has, thus far, been reserved for people of color and ethnic groups other than White. Thence comes its otherness, which we aim in this issue to extend to the “non-others.” While Whiteness generally carries privilege in European-American contexts, the extent of such privilege depends greatly on principles of intersectionality or mattering. That is, White women and men of different classes, disabilities and sexual orientations are not equally privileged in equivalent circumstances. Additionally, Whiteness is