In what ways did Freud and Horney differ in their views of feminine psychology?
Karen Horney was an early feminist. She was instructed, in berlin, as a Freudian psychoanalyst. The relationship of her mother with her father was not good and her mother stated that she desired her husband to be dead. Her father was much older than her mother. Her mother favored her brother more and her father always used to underrate her intelligence. Her marital relation was not good.
She was more attracted to Adler’s theory. According to her, getting involved in the promiscuous relations and medical field, she was behaving more like a man. This made her feel superior. Later she was also involved with the younger boys, most of whom were getting trained under supervision. However, she did not develop any attachment with them. She was trained in Berlin; however, she did not agree with all the Freud’s theories.
She wrote several journals, which were related to the female’s personality and the problems associated with the females’ sexuality. Because of her growing disinterest with the Freud’s theories, she broke with the Freudian group and founded the Psychoanalysis institute of America.
In contrast, Freud considered women to be inferior. He was confined only to the biological origin of personality. He was greatly inspired by the positivistic and mechanical prospect of the 19th century. The term object was used by Freud to refer to any activity or an object or a person through which an instinct could be satisfied.
The first thing, in Freud’s’ view, in the life of a toddler that could fulfill his instinct is the mother’s breast. Horney discarded the libido concepts; she also challenged the oedipal theory. According to her, men feel jealous of women because of their inability to give new birth and hence, they find new ways to harass a woman. However, Freud believed that a woman is prompted by penis envy.