Wine, Cheese, & Deconstructing Patriarchy

Join us on Friday January 31st at 6:00 PM for an evening of Wine, Cheese, & Deconstructing Patriarchy with Susan Boulware, PhD! Come explore questions of the psychology of patriarchy and sociopolitical psychoanalysis alongside your local colleagues. Snacks and drinks are provided, and lively discussions always follow! Don't miss this exciting evening on an important topic.

Event Description

“Patriarchy had a beginning, and it will have an end.”  Gerda Lerner, from “The Creation of Patriarchy”

​The results of the recent election in our country have been shocking for many of us, wondering how a corrupt and corrupted person became the leader of the free world, again, evoking anxiety, anger, grief, despair. It is my belief that the structures of domination in human societies which began taking hold around 4000 BCE are at the root of the struggles of civilization, and thus the results of the recent election are a natural outcome of this.

​In this short gathering, we will touch on a brief history of the patriarchy, it wasn’t always this way, and its impact on human societies and individual humans.  The strict gender codes of patriarchy benefits only a few men, not all men, no women, no people of color, no one with “non-traditional” gender and sexual identities, no children, no one with disabilities, nor the environment.  Patriarchy is the toxic air we have been breathing for thousands of years, and we think this air is normal.  It’s not.

​Patriarchal systems exist in all systems in society, including in psychoanalytic communities where abuses of power are as common as in any other area of life.  Sociopolitical psychoanalysis is the study of how these “normative” (L. Layton, 2006) patterns and tropes shape the intrapsychic, the interpersonal and the sociopolitical, and the processes by which each of these systems texturize and create each other.  The personal is political, and vice versa.

​Understanding and deconstructing the systems of patriarchal domination, allows us to be strategic in actions that are healing and transforming of society.  And we as mental health professionals are uniquely trained to facilitate these changes through the work we do with people.  There is a huge literature on patriarchy and sociopolitical psychoanalysis. I will present an overview, that will hopefully inspire you to take a dive into this literature, according to your ability and life circumstances, as political action for the good of all of us.  We need to be hard and harsh with the systems and structures of patriarchy, and soft and gentle with the people.

The Speaker

Susan Boulware, PhD is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Sacramento, where she provides treatment from a psychoanalytic perspective for individuals and couples.  She also provides consultation and education in various venues for mental health professionals.  She has been a board member and president of past iterations of the Sacramento psychoanalytic community since 2004.  She is a co-founder and past board member of the Sacramento Psychoanalytic Society.

The Sacramento Psychoanalytic Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization led and supported entirely by volunteers who are dedicated to the promotion of psychoanalysis within the greater Sacramento region. 

We pursue our mission through organizing educational programs, reading groups, monthly presentations, case conferences, networking events, and hosting speakers of interest for the community of Sacramento – all are welcome to get involved!