EDITH KURZWEIL
Freudians and Feminis ts
in
Fin-de-siecle
Vienna
We
rarely recall that in Freud's Vienna feminism and psychoanalysis took
root in tandem; and that both movements were supported by the progres–
sive forces around them. This is absolutely clear from the early
Minutes oj
the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society,
from Harriet Anderson's fascinating
Utopian Feminism: VltOmens Movements in Fin-de-siCcle Vienna,
and from some
of the biographies of the women around Freud. Susan Quinn, for instance,
reports that Karen Horney sympathized with the Abolitionist movement
that flourished in Hamburg in 1901 (it was suppressed by the police a year
later and moved to nearby Altona), and with the League for the Protection
of [unwed] Mothers-whose "Austrian sister league Freud was attached
to" as well. According to Forrester and Appignanesi, Helene Deutsch
"channelled her youthful zeal into the workers' movement of social revo–
lution, ...was passionate about the condition of women, [and] organized
the first group of working women in the town [of Przemysl]."
Of course, there also was much resistance to both feminism and psy–
choanalysis, which for the most part were backed by artists and intellectuals
who promoted personal and societal freedom, knowledge, and enlighten–
ment. Inevitably, this very search often propelled its proponents into
different directions, and the very establishment of their ensuing activi ties
then set leading feminists apart, and sometimes got them into conflicts that
ended up in factionalism. We are aware that this was so among Freud's fol–
lowers as well-to begin with, when Carl Jung and Alfred Adler set up
their own organizations-and over time these factions have mul ti plied
exponentially, whether differences have been primarily over psychoanalyt–
ic theory, clinical methods, or metapsychological issues.
As we know, the psychoanalytic process promotes freedom; and this
search for freedom interested both men and women in what Freud had to
say. In turn, it was thanks to Freud's female patients that he had the oppor–
tunity to investigate the connections between psychic wounds and their
conversion into physical manifestations-paralysis, neuralgia, amnesia,
Editor's note:
A shorter version of this essay was first delivered as a talk at the Jewish
Museum in New York onJune 15,1999.
