#+title: Defending Freud (side B) | Why Theory
- source :: [[https://soundcloud.com/whytheory/freuddefenseb-11619-1030-pm][Defending Freud (side B) by Why Theory | Free Listening on SoundCloud]]

* Notes
As before I'll break out the arguments into their own headers.
** Freud is a heteronormative thinker
It is indeed true that for much of the history of [[file:../20200707090558-psychoanalysis.org][psychoanalysis]] analysts have
been trying to "cure" gay people.

[[file:../20200707090939-sigmund_freud.org][Freud]] however personally did not think of being gay as a problem, and
believed that all humans are born bisexual.

[[file:../20200707090939-sigmund_freud.org][Freud]] believed that humans don't inherently have a drive to reproduce.
He believed sexuality was tied to a fixation on something early in life.

Aside: the hosts believe that many of the criticisms levied against Freud are
just ways to knock him down and not create an alternative theory or engage in
his work. If you can say "Kanye West is a Trump supporter" then that gives you
an excuse to not seriously engage with his work, and the same goes for
intellectuals.
** Freud was a misogynist
This claim seems to come from [[file:../20210421170057-second_wave_feminism.org][second wave feminism]]. Some issues that such
thinkers have with him:
- The [[file:../20210421170354-phallus.org][Phallus]]
- Penis envy
- [[file:../20210421170402-castration.org][Castration]]

Freud focuses on castration because that's where loss is centered for the
subject.

The hosts believe that people frequently misinterpret these ideas. The Phallus
is external to someone, for example. It's only about people who /seem/ to have
the Phallus. ("The Odd One In" is a good book about this.)

Psychoanalysis is about answering the question of how someone becomes a man or
woman.

Freud took the complaints of women so seriously that it became a whole field of
science.

To paraphrase a quote from Freud: "if you give ground on the words to describe
something you've given ground on the thing itself" (the show does not cite this
source, as much as I would like to know what the exact quote is).
** Going on the offensive
[[file:../20210422101309-carl_jung.org][Carl Jung]] was an avowed [[file:../20200713212425-nazis.org][Nazi]] and a rapist but is more widely accepted than
Freud.

Psychoanalysis often has to go on the defensive while other fields do not.