by Justin Brass The challenge that many of us face when entering the field of psychology is to bring to light the ways in which masculinity in science has operated over time, and within various cultures, without reenacting history by the exclusion of women or femininity from the discipline. However, in order for women to be able to practice psychology there were (and still are) many obstacles before feminism and scientific advancement can become truly cohesive. I was shocked to read the words of the psychologists that reconfirmed the standings of a patriarchal society. It was surprising because as scientists I assumed we were above these types of biases in our society. I never actually expected our discipline to have played a role in limiting women from conducting research until I understood that what was being investigated in psychology was only based on how gender identity related to men. Although I was previously aware of the female struggle, I never fully considered its application to the social contexts in which we have conducted science. Psychologists like Freud who tried to understand gender in psychology did not see the full picture. They studied a world that was based off the “male model” and disregarded anybody who didn’t fit inside it (Rutherford, 2018). Science will always remain flawed if we do not continue to progress towards merging the gaps between psychology and feminism. It would be improper psychology because any of the work being done would have been either heavily masculine or biased towards men. The pure masculinity found in psychology was essentially just a way to describe the perfect pseudoscience by which society governed itself by. It was easy to classify all these people when all people were a reflection of what men said they were. To practice science in a “traditional” sense was too imply that only certain areas of study, methods and theories that were correct and allowed within the narrow scope of a male dominated culture (Rutherford, 2018). The belief that science needs to be “cold and rational” (i.e. masculine) should continue to be criticized to the highest degree as it is complete and utter hogwash. Especially when scientists look to study the science in psychology and neglect that a main principle of psychology is that is a way to study and understand ourselves (an imperfect species with thoughts and emotions that differ among groups and populations). If society can recognize phenomena such as war as a shift for social context and psychology, then feminism should be viewed the same way too. Such that, like war, feminism broke through the barriers that prevented asking newer questions like: how we should be viewing science? How is the world of emotion when looking at research? How does what I’m studying apply to social context of this society? Ultimately, using feminism in science as a way to call out the biases that have governed psychology for most of its history. Feminism itself is a symbol of this struggle as female psychologists fought to gain to gain the ability to start rejecting these patriarchal notions found in science. A call to action is needed for critiquing psychology for its neglect of women’s oppression and blindness to the social contexts that will be vital for future research. As it is important to know why gender is impactful in psychology, it is just as vital to widen the scope of how psychologists investigate science and ask newer questions as they pertain to women and women’s rights. Feminism in psychology allows us to see the flaws of masculine psychology. However, this battle continues even today as there are many obstacles that women face not only when entering the field of psychology but in the rest of academia (i.e. discrimination, wage gaps, unequal opportunities, social expectations, and so on). Like many minorities, women’s voices are needed to inspire and recognize boundaries that need to be crossed as the topic of feminism itself is a matter that impacts society and changes how people behave. If we are to ever tackle the greater issues in psychology, efforts must continue in order to merge equality back into the field itself. However, there is still a stigmatization that oppresses feminism in psychology that remains prevalent in research as a whole. Gender is important to consider because gender itself encompasses the many behaviours that shape how we identify. If we choose to ignore feminism in psychology, then we are essentially saying there is only one way to practice science and it is only going to apply to the most powerful group in society: men. Justin is an undergraduate student at the University of Guelph. Do you want to highlight a concept in psychology you've always found interesting through a blogpost? Make sure you fill out our submission form and send it back to us by email so we can showcase your ideas! Reference
Rutherford, Alexandra. (2018). Psychological Perspectives on Gender: An Intellectual History.
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