274 Gyn/Ecology

wrought by gynecology is on display in medical

Moreover so is the fact that it assumes the shape of
ing Thus the plight of DES daughters, itself
manifestation of iatrogenic disease, is an invitation to furthe.
gynecological molestation. There is evidence that
directed at the vagina for treatment of adenosis can
uterine cancer.' Moreover, local progesterone therapy Isre;
ported to have exacerbated growth of tumors. The
of necrophilic medicine are endless.
The Multiplying of Mind-Menders
The tendency to spread is of course inherent also in
gynecology. It is clear that the ritual of
followed the pattern of diffusion from an "elite" group<;)
victims to a wider circle, and that this sado-ritual
in the manner of iatrogenic dis-ease. The proliferation
"schools" and types of therapy has fostered its spread in
of these senses.
I shall first look at the spread of psychotherapy fromW
to-do women to a wider segment of the female populati
The progenitor of modern therapr was, of
fact that Freudian psychoanalysIs as an mstltutlon hasp.
been relegated to a minor role in actual therapeutic practis,
does not alter the fact of his mystical "mother" role in
to aU of them. As psychiatrist Joel Kovel acknowledges:
It is striking to see work after work, new method after new
define itself by reference to Freud, usually as an alleged
through past his limits. Through the years, a thousand comme.9
tors, mostly long forgotten, have labeled Freud Buried
less times, just as perpetually resurrected, the spmt of
tinues to brood over contemporary therapy,2
Like the holy ghost, Freud multiplies himself, continuin
breed-and espeeiaUy-to brood over his progeny,
semble him even in their reactions "against" him. For
re-actions they move, yo-yo-Iike, back and forth on his apr
strings, eternaUy fixated upon his Word. The source oUp
American Gynecology: Gynocide by Holy Ghosts of Medicine 275
?vementl"life" is his breath, for he is their spirit, their basic
-source, whom they must constantly re-search, re-vise, re-fute,
:cover, and resurrect.
freud focused upon females who "belonged" to the well-
:?O classes, so did the seemingly very divergent therapists
po followed him, such as Jung, Adler, Rank, Reich, Fromm,
?Perls. Gradually, the proliferation of clinics and the devel-
Inent of various forms of group therapy has made Mental
.and Healing available to Everywoman. The sheer vol-
. e. of therapy has multiplied approximately fivefold since
60. should note that the increase in volume has been
by multiplication of forms. The following partial
Inay !he haggard imagination to glimpse the dimen-
the Tnumph of the Therapeutic":
therapy mysticotranscendent therapy
therapy primal therapy
psychoanalytic therapy
punter . . rational-emotive therapy
,Si:!rh.ard Trammg) reality therapy
analySIS script therapy
IIy therapy sensitivity training
therapy sex therapy
therapY' somatic therapy
notherapy transactional analysis'
his proliferation of therapies, which are like shadows, dis-
.ed and resurrections of each other, has the effect
everyone not only as patient but as mini-therapist.
everyone who is touched by psychoanalysis
With It and soon wants to become a therapist him-
." The result is that therapy has spread not only from
"ehte," selected for "the best" psychoanalytic treatment,
Obviously males also go to therapists, whereas gynecology
spe::lfically at women. However, the point to keep in focus
has women as its essential targets, even
"Olen 8fe In the patient role, since therapy generally reinforces
typed gender roles and fosters woman hating, Thus a rapist who
t to a is frequently "helped to see" that "his problem"
With hiS mother.
276 Gyn/Ecology
to the poor who are offered "hudget" or
therapies, but even to those who do not go to therapy SesSI
but who are friends or even casual acquaintances of those Vi
do. Thus the contemporary religion of therapy has produced;!
own "priesthood of believers."
It is easy to recognize here an ominous resemblance
proliferation of christian churches and sects, and to
sequent witnessing by the "born-again" laity. After the
of Jesus, the holy ghost started inspiring more
"converts," These eventually formed different and seemmgl
opposed churches, and this doctrinal. and "
functioned to seduce more and more mto membership. [I'h
in turn profoundly affected the environment of nonmemJ:le
The diffusion of therapy, then, like that of
been downward and outward, affecting all women. Howeye
the contagion of mind-gynecology cannot be
socioeconomic or numerical terms only. Just aslJ.bd
gynecologists spread iatrogenic disease, so also do
create a market for their "healing." A woman seduced
treatment is "inspired" with dis-ease she had never
suspected. As she becomes more fixated upon her
"problems" she becomes more in need of Help. The m)f\
plicity of therapies feeds into this dis-ease, for they constltl!\ffl
an arsenal for the manufacture of many forms of seman,\!
bullets used to bombard the minds of women struggling;\
survive in the therapeutically polluted environment.
lets of "psychobabble" invade the ears of mfo
ing her in a thousand tongues of her Sickness and
Help. This invasion continues unchecked because .Itfilf
women's attention in the wrong direction, fragmentmga
privatizing perception of problems, which can be
only if understood in the context of the sexual caste system;
IV
The medical employment of women as token torturers is';
dent in the use of nurses, physiotherapists, and token wom
doctors. In the field of body-gynecology, the nurse, train
to be totally obedient to the Olympian Doctor, functions
American Gynecology: Gynocide by Holy Gbosts of Medicine 277
!proximate and visible agent of painful and destructive
Nurses shave women about to give birth and give
'''lIlas to women in labor. It is they who give injections and
who withhold pain medication begged for by the
a\lent. Programmed not to answer women's questions, they
1!1etimes magniry suffering by unreasonable silence and de-
nonanswers. Hags should note that most unpleasant
which nurses perform (for example, changing of
essmgs after surgery) are done while the woman is awake
of being hurt, whereas the deepest wounding-cut-
gin is performed by doctors, is done under
Thus, as Peggy Holland has noted, within the hos-
,iW,situation most procedures experienced as painful are done
Jj ",;women, whereas the doctors' actions-prescribing drugs
,Ifh often have harmful effects, issuing orders from on high
fare often not directly perceived.' The nurse, then, functions
token torturer in the primary sense of the term token, that
.'asan outward indication or expression. She is both weapon
for the doctor in his warfare against The
n,e1!1y, Disease, to which the woman as patient is susceptible
,her nature [sic]. Likewise, physiotherapists (most of whom
assume the token role, often forcing women to do
exercise after surgery, for example, after mas-
tomles.
'J.'here are, of course, some women gynecologists, many of
are far more sensitive to women's needs than their male
Jlfflagues, and some of whom (like some nurses) act in a
y)finel.y.healing manner despite the obstacles presented by
and by the institutional set-up in which they par-
However, they have gone through the same indoctrina-
male doctors (the same texts, instructors, internship),
the same medical journals, and continue to be subjected
pressures to conform. Paraphrasing a discussion with Dr.
Howell, Gena Corea summarizes the situation: "Female
who are 'honorary white males' don't defend female
ti,ents against harmful obstetrical practices, unnecessary sur-
; unsafe contraceptives, and forced sterilizations."
seen that in the other sado-rituals mothers are
to function as token torlurersof daughters. Clearly,
178 Oynl Ecology
this aspect is perpetuated in gynecology, in that are.
only more refined but also more complex. The cooperatIOn
of the DES mothers in the mutilation of their daughters was
elicited from them in a state of ignorance. Also to be counted
among well-intentioned victimizers are those mothers who urg
and even command their daughters to go for frequent, unnec-
essary gynecological check-ups and treatments. Such women
are educated to be unaware that "any idea, seriously enter-
tained, tends to bring about the realization of itself." D7 Itis
ironic that these mothers, whose insights have been
by fear and heavy bombardments of medical propaganda,dls-
playa less accurate awareness of the sources o,f danger
Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of The Crack In the C?smr.c
Egg, who writes of the cancer epidemic among females mbls}
family: .
Few people understood my fury the center. that at
tended my wife requested that I brmg my Just-then-buddmg teen
age daughter for regular six-monthly check-ups for ever thereafter.
since they had found-and thoroughly mammar
malignancies in a mother tended to be duphcated m the
many hundred percent above the average. And
duplications do occur, in a clear example of the clrcularl.ty
pectancy verification, the mirroring by reality of a passIonate.?
basic fear.
DD
The mothers who are pre-possessed and pre-occupiedb.
instilled iatrogenic fears have a difficult time saying no to.th)
circularity, precisely because they are themselves
both as victims and as token torturers. They funclton m t
victimizer role ignorantly and often ambivalently by sociali.
ing daughters to be "popular"/sexy on male-identified term
thus setting them up to become Pill-users, teenage mothers,
abortion candidates.'
Obviously, 1 am by no means advocating the position that
is "
mora
lly wrong." Indeed. it is preferable to the agony of
pregnancy and childbirth. This does not lessen the fact that tL
degrading and painful procedure which no woman should havet
endure.
American Gynecology: Gynocide by Holy Ghosts of Medicine 279
Likewise, from the very inception of mind-gynecology,
as token have had an important role. Out-
more-freudlan-than-Freud women analysts included
elene Deutsch and Marie Bonaparte. Deutsch, whose morbid
tpourings are continually reprinted and are often sold in the
!}\'omen's .Studies" of bookstores (right next to
was tramed by Freud, having worked under
)m for years. f" haggard Searcher will not expend too much
nergy unsnarhng Deutsch's opinions. The following sample
ould suffice as a re-minder of the methods of her re-search:
e.the.ory that I have long supported-according to which fem-
Olty IS associated with passivity and masochism-has
n confirmed m the course of years by clinical observation.
DD
Certainly. And blackness has long been "associated" with
;esame qualities in ra.cist so.cieties. The point is brought up,
-hashed and re-fut.ed m S?clology 101 at Everycollege every
ar. The problem IS not Simply that the argument is impec-
fallacio,us but that it came from a woman. Deutsch
slams her cIrcularity t? the bitter end of her work, The Psy_
of Women. Wntmg of the "climacterium" she faith-
the tradition of the Malleus when
resays:
... women in this life period increases markedly,
Judgment fads, and they readily fall victim to evil counsel-

.n Age of Gynecological Holy Ghosts, however, the sit-
tlon IS more complex than it was in the days of Pope Inno-
t and h!s Dear Sons, Kramer and Sprenger. For the ranks
truly evtl counselors have been expanded to include such
Daughters as: Deutsch. Since the witches were Wise
r.nen/Healers, it is particularly appropriate that the andro-
TtIcusurpers who erased them should later replace them
'litman-made legitimated as "counselors" and thera-
sis. Nor these adopted daughters of pathological patri-
hs be as bhnd as Helene Deutsch or Marie Bonaparte.
'

'
280 Gynl Ecology
There have been female adlerians, rankians, reichians, fromf
mians, and-ad nauseam-jungians. Particularly
the illusion of equality projected through Jung's androcrat19
animus-anima balancing act, since women are trained
grateful for "complementarity" and token inclusion. Token,
ism is embedded in the very fabric of Jung's ideology-in co
trast to the more obvious misogynism of Freud's fallaciou
phallocentrism. Thus it is possible for women to promote Jung'
garbled gospel without awareness of betraying their
and even in the belief that they are furthering the feminis
cause.
Moreover, since the Age of the Holy Ghosts is a timeio
Dionysian boundary violation, it is predictable that the
of male motherhood will be shifted to the shoulders of mor
and more women deemed worthy by Dionysian men. The saID
incongruities that are inherent in the role of females who
be christian priests and ministers are ingrained in the
of the newly ordained female priests of therapy.
downward spread of therapy itself inevitably renders it
accessible as a respectable occupation for upwardly mORH,:
women in male-monitored society. Thus the lower rankll(!e
token victimizers multiplY'i?
Nor is this all. For it is also inevitable that the
sional Great Sponge Society will soak up into its
women with a genuine desire and IJative ability to heal.
the Thoroughly Therapeutic Society must not only
potential witches as It must craftily con.sam
of its stronger potential deVIants mto the role of unwltt1g!
token victimizers, in the name of Feminist Therapy.
I am not saying that genuinely woman-identified
cannot and does not take place, nor am I denying
the state of alienating structures in which we live, there
urgent need for drop-in centers and other places for
to go in crisis situations. My criticism concerns
way of life, as an system.of
petuating false needs, of maskmg and mamtammg
of focusing/draining women's energy through
periodic psychological "fixes." My criticism concerns the e
American Gynecology: Gynocide by Holy Ghosts of Medicine 281
onal, economic, and intellectual hooking of women into a
procession of cyclic re-turning, which provides false
(lCunty and prevents independent risking/questing. It con-
.ems the woman-crippling triumph of the therapeutic over
anscendence.
are ma.ny that can be made for and against
of SItuatIOns whIch generally are listed under the
of "feminist therapy." Those who argue in favor of
femmlst .therapy" that it departs entirely from the
presupposItIOns. I suggest that this assumption
examined by A-mazing Amazons, for behind the
obVIOusly misogynistic presuppositions of patriarchal
(e.g., "penis envy" and blaming the mother)
IS a more subtle agenda, which is difficult to uproot and
seems to be endemic to the therapeutic situation in its
nous forms.
'iI'his contains, as a basic element, dependency upon
endas-m other words, addiction. The term therapeutic is
m the therapeuein, meaning "to attend, worship or
Just as roman catholics feel obliged to at.
mass and to worship the god of the church,
as pallents are regularly treated medically, the thera-
re-turn. I s.uggest that the god of therapy is therapy
Moreover, as 10 the case of all religions, there is a fixa-
the act of worship itself, which tends to function
a shelter against anomie, against meaninglessness. For this
as?n, any criticism of therapy threatens/terrorizes the thera-
t!Zed.
to the that this quality is present in
.1000ISt therapy IS the reactIon of some readers/listeners
ho!fixate defensively upon "feminist therapy" rather than
anding their vision to comprehend a long and complex
Name of Feminisl Therapy, and of Radical Feminist Ther-
of Wholly Lesbian Therapy, Women's Cenlers originally the
ucts of woman-identified energy, are ;ometimcs con.
Taming where independent gynergetic be-ina: is
a source of dIsease.
282 Gyn/Ecology
analysis of androcratic atrocities and tactics. This
of focus is itself symptomatic of the fetisrnzation and fragmFrt
tation inflicted by mind-gynecology. It suggests that the ve
concept of "feminist therapy" is inherently a contradiction!
hasten to add that gynergizing, en-couraging, healing cOlli
munication among Hags/Crones is not a contradiction. Ther.e
fore, when this is taking place it should not be caUed "therapy;'
Moreover, I suggest that Hags dispense with the trappings
therapy.
Among these trappings/ traps is stale therapeutic
which arrests thinking, neatly labeling/limiting every impuls
toward re-considering Original Movement. For example,'o'{c
are told to "deal with" the issue of "feminist therapy." One wh
strives for Gyn/Ecological vision may be accused of "not dea.
ing with" therapeutic problems (just as
generally are accused of "not dealing with" men). Yet
isfY the accusers' often insatiable need to "deal with"
would require falling into the very therapeutic trappings/tra
which Oyn/Ecology transcends. It would mean settlingfo,
settling down in one blind aUey of the Masters' Maze,
on the blinders of tunnel vision. While there are sometim
needs for tunnels on our Journey, Journeying itself is nottti
neling. Since Oyn/Ecological Journeying is not "feminist the
apy," but rather is itself an entirely Other Way, Revolting Hag
refuse the therapeutic society. We re-fuse our gynergetic Se1ve
Refusing the triumph of the therapeutic is essential for
affirmation of transcendence. It will be objected that "femin'
therapy" can be a means to transcendence. Without a doubt
it does function at some times and in some cases to remO
obstacles and to provide clues to transcendence. Yet the sa
can be said for the catholic church. Although Hags might wa
to evaluate these institutions in different ways, the fact isth
both have the agenda of dis-couraging women into thesta
of dependency. While the symbol system and institutional;i
tent of the catholic church is overtly oppressive, "feminist til
apy" as an institution is covertly dis-couraging.:ij
The point is that Hags should not have to resort tOtakl.
back from such institutions as religion and therapy the pow
and tactics which were rightfully our own to begin with,
American Gynecology: Gynocide by Holy Gh05ts of Medicine 283
ich have warped and watered down after having been
len by patnarchy. The situation is paral1el to that of a
man. who begs a robber to return her stolen and damaged
sesslOns--except that women who turn to religion and ther-
yusuaUy do not realize that they are attemping to reclaim
goods from thieves.
be objected that "feminist therapy" is a step toward
;clalmmg women's own healIng powers. This is partially
I suggest that there are serious inherent difficulties
Fo,mparable to the difficulties inherent in the idea of "fem-
For therapy, including the institution of "fem-
being relegated to the role of a "step."
Ike.re.hglon, It tends to replace transcendence, assuming/
all. draining creative energy, eliminating
.. pgmahty, mlslabehng leaps of imagination, shielding the
Self-strengthening Aloneness. The Self becomes
ecta!or of own frozen, caricatured history. She is filed
mis-filed, In file-cabinets fil1ed with inaccurate categories.
s filed, she joins the Processions of those who choose down-
dmobility of mind and imagination.
ymptomatic of such pseudo-feminist downward mObility is
.SOap Opera Syndrome, whose one basic Program can be
tIed, to Deal with Relationships." Like the heroines
radIO soap operas and 1970s television soap operas
actress deals with her programmed
!o,re an audience of dealers. Like the radio and television
o,ines, she but not create the script. She
ytry out for ro!es, since everything can be coopted
wntlng IS .therapeutic, swimming is thera-
painting IS therapeutiC, demonstrating is therapeutic.
writing is writing, swimming is
painting IS pamtlng, demonstrating is demonstrat-
Instead of creating, she deals and deals, struggles and
ggles, re!ates re-!ates. She finds that her problems are
IFss,havlng the Infimty of a closed circle. Everything be-
problem. The situation of being Feminist and/or Les-
to the problems but does not break the circle. Only
meymg the circle. In Journeying/process, therapy
l)t the pnonty.