Misogyny, Projective Identification, and Mentalization

Karyne E. Messina, Ed.D., FABP, is a psychologist and supervising analyst at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis and is on the medical staff of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. She maintains a full-time private practice in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She was previously the Director of the Meyer Treatment Center at the Washington School of Psychiatry and the Director of Continuing Education for Women at George Washington University.

"This book presents novel ideas that advance, not only the understanding of projective identification, but also concepts related to the aspects of work that promote improvement in psychotherapy that I have not seen before. I think that the topics of the book will be of universal interest to a variety of readers for many years to come, as the issue of discrimination not only continues to be a struggle but in recent times, the "Me Too" movement gives these questions urgency not seen before. The book contains a very contemporary application of theory on social experience; it is likely to become a tour de force work."-Harry Gill, Assistant Clinical Professor, George Washington University; Medical Director, Suburban Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine, USA"Here Karyne E. Messina explores misogyny through a psychoanalytic lens. Familiar with many theoretical perspectives and using wide-ranging examples, she shows how psychoanalytic theories contribute to an understanding of misogyny’s unconscious roots and its potential for resolution. The reader is guaranteed a thoughtful, thorough and suspenseful journey through this timely topic."-Helen Stein, Consultant, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Center for the Study of Trauma and Resilience, Psychologist; private practice, New York City, USA (retired)"In this important book, psychoanalyst, Karyne E. Messina describes the damaging effects of what she calls the "emotional violence of silence", the deployment of power to erase the contribution of women throughout history. Today in the age of the "Me Too" movement, women are starting to speak out- but the rising tide of voices still has to combat a long history of systemic suppression. Understanding these forces has never been more timely. This book can help us break the cycle and usher in a new and necessary cultural shift."-Maddie Grant, Culture Consultant and Digital Strategist and Founding Partner, WorkXO, Washington DC, USA"Dr. Messina’s book takes up the worryingly persistent problem of misogyny. Marshaling several rich examples, she shows how the process of projective identification illuminates diverse manifestations of violence against women. Drawing on attachment theory, she explains how self-awareness and perspective taking can allow us to escape the grips of projective identification and potentially ameliorate the continuing prejudicial ways women are treated. This book makes an important contribution to further our understanding of the problem of misogyny."-Shweta Sharma, Assistant Professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, Psychologist; private practice Houston, Texas, USA

• Prologue; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Beginnings PART I: ONE MECHANISM THAT EXPLAINS OUR VIOLENT WORLD 1: A Mechanism That Harms: Projective Identification as a Force that Destroys 2: Clara Thompson’s Disappearance: How Projective Identification Contributed to the Near-Extinction of a Star PART II: THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DAMAGED: PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION AS A MAJOR CAUSE OF THE ERASURE 3: Eleanor Marx: A Little-Known Activist 4: A 21st Century Woman: Anne Case 5: Hillary Clinton and the 2016 Presidential Election PART III: GROUPS OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN DAMAGED: THE EFFECTS OF PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION IN GROUPS 6: The Dial Painters and Their Fate: Illness and Death for Many 7: The WASP of World War II: Does the Stigma Linger? 8: The Challenge: Healing Groups and Cultures 9: The Atrocity of Physical Abuse: Genocide and Rape in Rwanda and Sex-Trafficked Girls PART IV: MECHANISMS THAT REVERSE THE DAMAGE: MENTALIZATION AND REPARATIVE LEADERSHIP AS ANTIDOTES TO PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION 10: Attachment, Attachment Trauma, and Mentalization: Key Components that Affect the Development of the Self and the Formation of Group Identify 11: Reparative Leadership as a Way to Help Groups: Reconciliation in Rwanda as an Example of Hope PART V: ATTEMPTING TO TURN THINGS AROUND: FROM PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION (A ONE-MIND PROCESS) TO MENTALIZATION (A TWO-MINDS PROCESS) 12: Treatment Out of the Analytic Box: Attachment, Mentalization, and a Response to Trauma 13: The Lady—As My Observing Ego—And I: Observing Mentalization After Forming Attachment Relationships; Conclusion; Epilogue