Othering and the making of witches and monsters
The seminar is online only and will be available to view online from 8.15pm on Monday 1st May for 7 days. The link will be sent by email on that day. If you were registered last term then you will automatically receive the link this term. To register for the first time please email paul.tod@sjc.ox.ac.uk. Please note that there will not be an online discussion with viewers, but comments may be posted on http://oxfordpsychoanalysis.blogspot.com
In this paper I plan to sketch some preliminary ideas about a form of othering that involves misogynistic thinking. I shall suggest that this form of thinking is linked to the fear of woman founded in the dread of the maternal. The concept of othering captures conscious and unconscious processes whereby the other is objectified and positioned as different from ourselves. The other’s humanity is not recognised, and unrecognised negative aspects of the self are projected onto the other. Over 70 years ago, Simone de Beauvoir asked her incisive question: why is woman Other? This question continues to cut to the heart of the problem of women’s otherness and their disadvantaged location in the binary system of Western thought.

Chaired by Louise Braddock; the paper will be followed by short comments and discussion from two other contributors: Katie Fleming (QMUL) and Holly High (Deakin University).
Date: 1 May 2023, 20:15 (Monday, 2nd week, Trinity 2023)
Venue: online only
Speaker: Louise Gyler (Australian Psychoanalytical Society)
Organising department: St John's College
Organisers: Niall Gildea, Louise Braddock, Paul Tod
Organiser contact email address: paul.tod@sjc.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Interdisciplinary Seminars in Psychoanalysis
Booking required?: Not required
Booking email: paul.tod@sjc.ox.ac.uk
Cost: free
Audience: The seminar is open to university members and mental health professionals. Email paul.tod@sjc.ox.ac.uk to request the link.
Editor: Paul Tod