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SOWK 5801: FEMINIST PRACTICE WITH INDIVIDUALS,

COUPLES AND FAMILIES

School of Social Work, Carleton University

Winter 2013

Instructor: Donna F. Johnson

Office: TBA

Office Hours: By appointment (please contact me by email)

Email: dfjohnson@xplornet.com (include SOWK 5801 in subject)

Class Time: Thursdays 2:30-5:30

Classroom: 509 Dunton Tower

INTRODUCTION

Feminist counseling is a radical, revolutionary way of thinking about and working with women.

It is not a technique or a series of techniques but rather an approach that rests within an explicit

theoretical framework. The social worker acknowledges the oppression of women at the core of

her practice. A feminist approach refuses to blame the victim or to define women’s personal

struggles in terms of individual pathology. Women’s pain and distress are redefined in relation to

the society that has shaped them. Individual struggles are explicitly connected to the collective

experience of all women. Feminist counseling is a form of political action, subverting social

arrangements characterized by oppressive imbalances of power. The feminist counselor

recognizes how systemic racism, classism, ableism and heterosexism intersect to further

subjugate women. The underlying assumption of the feminist approach is that, given support,

options and a critical lens through which to view their experience, women can begin to

understand and take control of their lives. The central goal is to empower women, helping them

become advocates for change both in their own lives and in the social values and structures that

promote gender inequality and violence.

This course is designed to teach students how to apply a feminist framework in their social work

practice. The focus of learning will be to increase understanding of how gender-based oppression

plays out in women’s daily lives and to explore concrete ways of working that empower women

by connecting feminist theory to practice and the personal to the political. The readings are a

lively mix ranging from classics of feminist literature to key texts on feminist therapy. The class

itself will be experiential. We will examine how our practice as feminist social workers grows

from our personal values, worldview and understanding of what is happening to create people’s

experience. We will explore ways of making the client-social worker connection egalitarian,

authentic and empowering, and how to connect our own lives with the lives of the women we

see. We will examine the problem of diagnosis, ethics in feminist practice and will learn how to

critique our own work and lives. We will do some exploration of couples counseling and

consider how a feminist approach might work with men, children and families. We will examine

ways to be proactively antiracist and politically active in our practice.

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We live in an allegedly postfeminist era. How is it, then, that in every culture, across class, race

and ethnicity, women’s lives continue to be circumscribed by institutionalized sexism, and

women in every country are subjected to high levels of threat, violence and coercion in intimate

relationships? How is it that women’s inevitable responses to emotional, physical and sexual

abuse are still very often pathologized by medical, mental health and child welfare practices?

How is it that revictmization by police and courts remains commonplace? How is it that subtler

forms of oppression are still routinely overlooked by persons in the helping professions, and that

women are often encouraged to adapt to, rather than resist, oppressive, subordinate roles? Lack

of in-depth knowledge of the prevalence and dynamics of patriarchal oppression is a barrier to

offering appropriate assistance to women, compounding their so-called “mental health problems”

and often further jeopardizing their safety.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Recognize the profound effect of gender-based oppression in women’s daily lives

• Reflect critically on women’s problems and struggles in relation to the society that has

shaped them

• Work within a feminist framework, keeping women at the core of practice

• Articulate the connection between the personal and the political so that it becomes visible

to their clients

• Think creatively about how to incorporate social action into social work practice

• Recognize feminism as a powerful, creative force for personal and political transformation

CORE TEXT: Brown, Laura S., Subversive Dialogues: Theory in Feminist Therapy, Basic

Books, 1994. Available at Octopus Books, 116 Third Ave.

READINGS AVAILABLE ON-LINE THROUGH WebCT/ARES

RECOMMENDED READING

Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement” (1977)

http://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2007/02/03/the-combahee-river-collective/

Farley, Melissa, Prostitution, Trafficking and Traumatic Stress, New York: The Haworth

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Press, 2003

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), The Feminist Press, New York,

1973

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/yellowwallpaper.pdf

Glaspell, Susan, A Jury of Her Peers, 1917

http://www1.law.umkc.edu/Academic/Spring2011/assignments/MiniTerm/

AJuryofHerPeers.pdf

Healy, David, Let Them Eat Prozac: The Unhealthy Relationship Between the

Pharmaceutical Industry and Depression, James Lorimer, Toronto, 2003

Jensen, Robert, Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, South End Press,

2007

Marvin, Caroline and Dusty Miller, Couples on the Fault Line: New Directions for

Therapists, (Ed.) Peggy Papp, New York: The Guilford Press, 2000

McClung, Nellie L., In Times Like These (1915), University of Toronto Press, 1972

Mainardi, Pat, “The Politics of Housework”, 1971

http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/CWLUArchive/polhousework.html

Overall, Christine, “What’s Wrong with Prostitution? Evaluating Sex Work”, Signs.

Summer 1992, Volume 17. No. 4. pp 705-724

Rabin, Claire Low, Understanding Gender and Culture in the Helping Professions:

Practitioners Narratives From Global Perspectives, Wadsworth, 2005

Rabin, Claire Low, Equal Partners-Good Friends: Empowering Couples Through

Therapy, Routledge, 1996

Stoltenberg, John, Refusing to Be a Man: Essays on Sex and Justice, Meridian, 1989

Syfers, Judy, “Why I Want a Wife”, 1971

http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/CWLUArchive/wantawife.html

ASSIGNMENTS AND MARKING

• Weekly Journal (40%)

10 entries, due beginning of each class starting January 17, 2013. No entry required for last class.

A central principle of the feminist approach is that the counselor and client are equal partners in

the struggle for social justice for women. The effectiveness of the counselor is related to her/his

awareness of, and ability to articulate, how gender and power intersect in her/his own life. Each

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week please write a 1-2 page entry connecting your experience to the previous week’s readings

and class discussion. Please number your entries from #1 to #10. On January 17th you will hand

in Journal #1, which will be your thoughts on the introductory class and discussion. Journal #2

will be based on the readings and discussion for Week 2...and so on.

• Integrative Paper or Class Presentation or Activist Project (50%)

The integrative paper is due the final class, April 4. It is expected to be 15-20 double-spaced

pages and deal with an issue related to feminist practice. It should incorporate themes of the

course, which you may explore in terms of your own life and work. This is an academic paper

requiring research, footnotes and bibliography. The use of the personal “I” is not only accepted

but encouraged. (For an example of a paper that effectively combines the personal and political,

see “Assent and You are Sane: My Grandmother’s Story of Forced Institutionalization” by J.D.,

2011, in “Readings for Week 4”.)

Class presentations should develop the week’s topic. They may be made individually or in small

groups and will take place starting Week Six. You may sign up for a presentation in Week Two

and Three. Each student must submit along with her/his presentation a 2-5 page synthesis of

learnings. Please include references.

The activist project should address the central tenet that feminist counseling does not end at the

door of the counselor’s office; change must take place simultaneously in oppressive social

arrangements and imbalances of power that give rise to people’s problems. Organize a campaign

or action on campus to raise awareness and promote social change on an issue pertaining to

women’s status and well-being. You are encouraged to work in groups. Each student must

submit a short paper (5-10 pages; include references) explaining the rationale, implementation,

and outcome of the project.

• Class Participation (10%)

Areas considered for the class participation mark are class attendance, completion of the

readings, participation in discussions, contributing to the learning of other students and

participating in creating an egalitarian classroom conducive to learning, which includes dealing

constructively with any difficulties or conflicts that may arise.

CLASS SCHEDULE WINTER 2013

Week 1/January 10 Introductions, course objectives, administration. Fundamentals of

feminist ways of working. The feminist classroom.

Week 2/January 17 Traditional approaches to helping: a critique. Why a feminist

approach remains relevant.

What is happening to shape women’s experience in the year 2013? The personal and political

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assumptions underlying conventional practice. Why mainstream approaches are potentially

harmful when it comes to addressing women’s problems and concerns. How is feminist

counseling a radical act?

Readings:

Brown, Laura, “Toward a Subversive Dialogue with the Reader”, Subversive Dialogues:

Theory in Feminist Therapy, Basic Books, 1994, pp 1-46.

Chesler, Phyllis, “Women in Asylums: Four Lives”, Women and Madness, Avon Books,

1972, pp 5-17.

Chelser, Phyllis, “2005 Introduction”, Women and Madness-30th

Anniversary Edition,

Palgrave MacMillan, 2005, pp 1-44.

Levine, Helen with Schneider, Faith, “Fanning Fires: Women’s Studies in a School of

Social Work”, Minds of Our Own. Inventing Feminist Scholarship and Women’s

Studies in Canada and Quebec, 1966-1976, Wendy Robbins, Meg Luxton, Margrit

Eichler and Francine Descarries (Eds.), Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008, pp

54-60.

No More Miss America! (1968), Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global

Perspectives, Carole R. McCann and Seung-Kyung Kim (Eds.), Routledge, 2003, pp

80-82.

Week 3/January 24 The client-social worker relationship

How does change occur in the counseling relationship? Exploring mutuality, authenticity, self-

disclosure, vulnerability, connection, and power.

Readings:

Brown, Laura, “The Relationship in Feminist Therapy”, Subversive Dialogues, Chapter

4, pp 92-123.

Levine, Helen, “The Personal is Political: Feminism and the Helping Professions”,

Feminism in Canada: From Pressure to Politics, Geraldine Finn and Angela Miles

(Eds.), Black Rose Books, 1982, pp 175-209.

Miller, Jean Baker, “Strengths”, Toward a New Psychology of Women, Beacon Press,

1986, pp 29-48.

Rich, Adrienne, “On History, Illiteracy, Passivity, Violence, and Women’s Culture”,

Lies, Secrets and Silence, W.W. Norton, 1979, pp 9-18.

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Week 4/January 31 The problem with diagnosis

Understanding pain, distress and depression from a feminist perspective. Diagnosing the

situation, not the woman. What is the origin of women’s anger, guilt, fear, conflict and

dependence? What are the connections with family, work, wifehood, motherhood, poverty,

racism, aging and sexuality? Locating and validating anger. Suicide and sadness.

Readings:

Brown, Laura, “Naming the Pain: Diagnosis and Distress”, Subversive Dialogues,

Chapter 5, pp 124-152.

Brownmiller, Susan, Femininity, Fawcett Columbine, 1984, pp 11-19.

Herman, Judith, “A New Diagnosis”, Trauma and Recovery, Basic Books, 1997, pp

115-128.

Rickles, Nathan, “The Angry Woman Syndrome”, Archives of General Psychiatry,

Vol. 24, January 1973, pp 91-94.

Kaplan, A., et al., “Women and Anger in Psychotherapy”, Women Changing Therapy,

Joan Hammerman Robbins and Rachel Josefowitz Siegel (Eds.), Harrington Park

Press, 1985, pp 29-40.

J.D., “Assent and You Are Sane: My Grandmother’s Story of Forced

Institutionalization”, Integrative Assignment, SOWK 5801, Carleton University,

2011, pp. 3-12.

Week 5/February 7 A conversation with Helen Levine

In 1980 Helen Levine taught the first feminist counseling course at the Carleton School of Social

Work. She has published numerous articles on feminist counseling, motherhood, psychiatry and

aging.

Readings:

Levine, Helen, “Feminist Counseling: A Woman-Centered Approach”, Women, Work

and Wellness, Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Research Foundation, 1989, pp 227-

252.

Dosanjh, Raminder, “If We Save Even One Woman”, Bringing It Home: Women Talk

About Feminism in Their Lives, Brenda Lea Brown (Ed.), Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp

Press, 1996, pp 62-75.

McClung, Nellie L., “Should women think?”, In Times Like These, McLeod and Allen

1915, pp 23-45.

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Week 6/February 14 Working with women who have been battered

How can the social worker be proactive and effective in helping women confront control and

violence in their intimate relationships? What are the key dynamics to keep in mind? Leading a

woman through the process of liberation: breaking the silence, sharing feelings and concerns,

analyzing (who is doing what to whom, and why?), contextualizing, strategizing, and acting.

Readings:

Martin, Del, “A Letter From a Battered Wife,” Battered Wives, Pocket Books, 1977, pp

1-9.

Herman, Judith, “The Combat Neurosis of the Sex War”, Trauma and Recovery, Basic

Books, 1997, pp 28-32.

Romito, Patrizia, “Introduction”, A Deafening Silence: Hidden Violence Against Women

and Children, The Policy Press, 2008, pp. 1-10.

Lewis, Stephen, Foreword to The War on Women, Brian Vallee, Key Porter Books,

2007, pp 13-17.

Stoltenberg, John, “Preface” and “Battery and the Will to Freedom: An address to a

conference on counseling men who batter”, Refusing to Be a Man: Essays on Sex and

Justice, New York: Meridian, 1989, p.1-5 and 199-204.

MacKinnon, Catherine, “Human Rights and Global Violence Against Women,” Are

Women Human? And Other International Dialogues, Belknap Harvard Press, 2007,

pp 28-33.

MacKinnon, Catherine, “Are Women Human?”, Are Women Human? And Other

International Dialogues, Belknap Harvard Press, 2007, pp 41-43.

Burstow, Bonnie, ‘Toward a radical understanding of trauma and trauma work’,

Violence Against Women, Vol. 9, No. 11, November 2003, pp 1293-1317.

Stark, Evan, “Gender Entrapment” and “It’s the Men, Dummy”, Coercive Control: How

Men Entrap Women in Personal Life, Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 129-132.

McEvoy, Maureen and Ziegler, Maggie, “Feminist Trauma Intervention”, Best Practices

Manual for Stopping the Violence Counseling Programs in British Columbia, 2006,

2.4.2, pp. 16-30.

[February 21 No Class-Reading Week]

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Week 7/February 28 The power of women coming together in groups

When are groups useful? What is the role of the facilitator? How is power shared? Peer-support,

social action groups and a concurrent model for mothers and children will be explored.

Guest speakers: Women whose children have committed suicide will speak about how coming

together with other mothers helped them cope with profound trauma and loss.

Readings:

Allen, Pamela, “Freespace”, Radical Feminism, Anne Koedt, Ellen Levine, Anita

Rapone (Eds), Quadrangle Books, New York, 1973, pp 271-279.

Caplan, Paula J., “Mother-Blaming”, Don’t Blame Mother, Harper and Row, pp 39-67.

Levine, Helen and Estable, Alma, “On Guilt, Anger and Self-Blame”, The Power

Politics of Motherhood: A Feminist Critique of Theory and Practice, Occasional

Paper, Centre for Social Welfare Studies, Carleton University, 1981, pp 31-36.

Johnson, D. with Helen Levine, “Creating a Space for Mothers Who Have Lost a Child

Through Suicide”, Moms Gone Mad: Motherhood and Madness, Oppression and

Resistance, Gina Wong (Ed.), Demeter Press, 2012, pp. 185-194.

Week 8/March 7 Working with women who have been raped

The current social context for rape. The lack of adequate justice system response. How does a

“legitimate” rape victim act? Exploring our own conceptions about how a woman should behave

when facing sexual violence or coercion. How does the feminist counselor help a woman prepare

for the revictimization she may well face from police, courts and community?

Readings:

Doe, Jane, “Why Men Rape”, The Story of Jane Doe, Vintage Canada, 2004, pp 315-

325.

Doe, Jane, “Still and Always a Feminist”, The Story of Jane Doe, Vintage Canada, 2004,

pp 311-314.

Griffin, Susan, “Rape: The All-American Crime”, in Women: A Feminist Perspective, Jo

Freeman, (Ed.), Harper and Row, Mayfield, 1975, pp 24-39.

Johnson, Donna F., “Out of the icy water: Regina vs. Douglas X”, Canadian Journal of

Woman and the Law: The Legalization of Responses to Violence Against Women,

Vol. 8 No 1, 1995, pp 241-248.

Week 9/March 14 Prostitution, freedom, coercion

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Feminists are divided over the issue of prostitution. While we debate the issue intellectually,

women who have been involved in sex work appear in our offices suffering deep emotional

wounds. How are we to help women make sense of this trauma?

Film: Lamont, Eve, “L’Imposture: La Prostitution Mise à Nu”, Les Productions du

Rapide-Blanc, Inc., 2010. “A burning documentary about the sex industry in Quebec,

producer Eve Lamont speaks for women who have very little chance to speak.”

Readings:

Jensen, Robert, “A Pornographic World (What is Normal?)”, Getting Off: Pornography

and the End of Masculinity, New York: Barnes and Noble, 2007, pp 37-50.

Jeffreys, Sheila, “Pornochic: Prostitution constructs beauty”, Beauty and Misogyny,

London: Routledge, 2005, pp 67-86.

Farley, Melissa, “Prostitution, Trafficking and Cultural Amnesia: What We Must Not

Know in Order to Keep the Business of Sexual Exploitation Running Smoothly”,

Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Vol. 18 (2006): pp 1-4.

Lee, Taylor, “In and Out: A Survivor’s Memoir of Stripping”, Not For Sale: Feminists

Resisting Prostitution and Pornography, Christine Stark and Rebecca Whisnant

(Eds.), Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2004, pp 56-63.

Carter, Vednita, “Prostitution and the New Slavery”, Not For Sale: Feminists Resisting

Prostitution and Pornography, Christine Stark and Rebecca Whisnant (Eds.),

Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2004, pp 85-88.

Farley, Melissa, “Bad for the Body, Bad for the Heart: Prostitution Harms Women Even

if Legalized or Decriminalized”, Violence Against Women, Vol. 10 No. 10 (2004): pp

1087-1125.

Week 10/March 21 Antiracism as an ethical imperative for the feminist practitioner

Feminist counseling theory as an integrated analysis of oppression. The personal is political, but

the personal is an intersection of identities and locations. Integrating multi-cultural perspectives.

The feminist counselor as “ethical activist” (Brown). Can the counselor challenge harmful

practices across cultures without undermining cultural diversity or being racist? What is harmful

anyway? Who gets to say?

Readings:

Brown, Laura, “Theorizing From Diversity”, Subversive Dialogues, Chapter 3, pp 69-

91.

Rushin, Donna Kate, “The Bridge Poem”, Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global

Perspectives, Carole R. McCann and Seung-Kyung Kim (Eds.), Routledge, 2003, pp

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172-173.

Hirsi Ali, Ayaan, “Dishonor, Death and Feminists”, Nomad, Toronto: Knopf , 2010, pp

219-235.

Taylor, Pamela K., “I Just Want to Be Me: Issues in Identity for One American Muslim

Woman”, The Veil: Woman Writers on History, Lore and Politics, Jennifer Heath

(Ed.), Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008, pp 119-136.

McEvoy, Maureen and Ziegler, Maggie, “Diversity and Oppression”, Best Practices

Manual for Stopping the Violence Counseling Programs in British Columbia, 2006,

2.4.2, pp 30-38.

Week 11/March 28 Feminist approaches to working with couples and families

The family as a key site of the oppression of women. The relationship between inequality in

marriage and marital distress. Targeting sex-role attitudes and behaviors as a central goal of

feminist counseling. Equalizing power.

Readings:

Brown, Laura, “The Master’s Tools: The Dilemma of Dealing With Patriarchy”,

Subversive Dialogues, Chapter 7, pp 178-199.

Parker, Lynn, “The unequal bargain: power issues in couples therapy”, Journal of

Feminist Family Therapy, Vol. 10 (3), 1998, pp 17-39.

Vecchio, Del and Dolan, Ken, “Dismantling White Male Privilege within Family

Therapy”, Re-Visioning Family Therapy: Race, Culture and Gender in Clinical

Practice, Monica McGoldrich (Ed.), Guilford Press, 1998, pp 159-175.

Dominelli, Lena, “Working with Children and Families”, Feminist Social Work Theory

and Practice, Palgrave, 2002, pp 105-124.

Week 12/April 4 Feminist Practice and Social Action

This final class will also deal with the importance of endings in our work.

Readings:

Brown, Laura, “Emerging from the Wilderness”, Subversive Dialogues, Chapter 9, pp

227-234.

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Pitts, Claudia, Margolies, Liz, Leeder, Elaine, “Ethics and Activism: Application”,

Feminist Therapy Theory and Practice: A Contemporary Perspective, Ballou, Hill,

West, (Eds.), Springer, 2008, pp 127-134.

Final Paper Due

ACCOMMODATION

Students with disabilities requiring academic accommodations in this course are encouraged to contact a coordinator

at the Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities to complete the necessary letters of accommodation. After

registering with PMC, make an appointment to meet and discuss your needs at least two weeks prior to the first in-

class test or midterm exam. This is necessary in order to ensure sufficient time to make the necessary arrangements.

INSTRUCTIONAL OFFENSES/PLAGIARISM

The Senate of the University has enacted the following regulations for instructional offences:

Any student commits an instructional offence who:

1. cheats on an examination, test, or graded assignment by obtaining or producing an answer by deceit, fraud or

trickery, or by some act contrary to the rules of the examination;

2. submits substantially the same piece of work to two or more courses without the prior written permission of the

instructors from all courses involved. Minor modifications and amendments, such as changes of phraseology in an

essay or paper, do not constitute a significant and acceptable reworking of an assignment;

3. contravenes the regulations published at an examination or which are displayed on the reverse side of a properly

authorized examination booklet;

4. commits an act of plagiarism (which for the purpose of this regulation shall mean to use and pass off as one's own

idea or product work of another without expressly giving credit to another);

5. disrupts a class or other period of instruction if he or she:

a) is a registered member of the class or period of instruction;

b) is warned to discontinue any act or behaviour reasonably judged by the instructor of the course or period of

instruction to be detrimental to the class, and having ignored such warning is ordered by the instructor to leave and

refuses to leave.

Any student found in violation of these regulations may be:

a. expelled;

b. suspended from all studies at the University;

c. suspended from full-time studies; and/or:

d. awarded a reprimand;

e. refused permission to continue or to register in a specific degree program but subject to having met all academic

requirements shall be permitted to register and continue in some other program;

f. placed on Academic Warning;

g. awarded an F or Abs in a course or examination.

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Allegations of instructional offense may be investigated by instructors and/or departmental chairs and, in all cases,

will be reported to the faculty Dean. The Dean will promptly advise, in writing, the student and the University

Ombudsperson of the allegation and of the student's rights. The Dean will review the allegation and, if not resolved

at that level, the allegation becomes subject to final disposition by a tribunal appointed by the Senate. Information

about procedure governing tribunals is available from the Clerk of Senate, 607 Robertson Hall. Allegations of

Instructional Offense involving students participating in the Carleton/University of Ottawa Exchange program will

be investigated according to procedures established at the host institution. The results of such investigations will be

forwarded to the home institution for final disposition.

Donna F. Johnson

Winter 201312