The Amazing Life and Times of Oliva Espín

ABSTRACT

Oliva Espín is a prolific feminist and multicultural writer and psychologist who has significantly contributed to feminist therapy throughout her career. This biographical article highlights her many contributions to feminism, feminist psychology, and humankind.     

Evolutionary psychology is compatible with equity feminism, but not with gender feminism: A reply to Eagly and Wood (2011)

I comment on Eagly and Wood's biosocial constructionist evolutionary theory (2011; DOI: 10.1007/s11199-011-9949-9). Although this gender feminist theory allows for evolved physical differences between men and women and evolved psychological similarities for men and women, it fails to consider evolutionary accounts of psychological sex differences. I hypothesize that gender feminists' reluctance to acknowledge that evolution has left different fingerprints on men's and women's bodies and brains stems from two common misunderstandings of evolutionary psychology: the myth of immutability and the naturalistic fallacy. I conclude that although evolutionary psychology is eminently compatible with equity feminism, evolutionary psychology and feminist psychology will conflict as long as the latter adheres to gender feminism and its unwillingness to acknowledge the evidence for evolved psychological sex differences. Gender feminism's dualistic view of evolution hinders the search for and understanding of the proximate and ultimate causes of inequality. Feminist psychology needs to evolve by embracing equity feminism, which has no a priori stance on the origin or existence of differences between the sexes.     

Addressing Diversity in the Decade of Behavior: Focus on Women of Color

The Decade of Behavior provides an opportunity to reflect on the need for psychologists to develop a "diversity mindfulness" in their education, training, and research activities, a need that has never been more urgent. In this article, we focus on the lives of women of color to illustrate diversity-mindful feminist principles that may inform research and program development related to other aspects of diversity. We discuss perspectives and priorities of women of color in psychology. We consider why implementing feminist psychology's inclusive vision for research is a continuing struggle, particularly with regard to research on poor women, and identify some contributions and priorities of feminist research on women of color that relate to Decade goals of achieving a "safer, better educated, healthier, more democratic and more prosperous nation" (White, Travis, & Russo, 2001, p. x). Understanding and incorporating perspectives of women of color in Decade activities is essential if researchers are to generate new knowledge "to prepare the world for facing emerging problems in the 21st century" (Decade of Behavior website: http://www.decadeofbehavior.org).     

A History of Women and Feminist Perspectives in Community Psychology

Using an historical framework, we document and assess efforts to include women, women's issues, and feminism in community psychology and in the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). Initiatives of the SCRA Task Force/Committee on Women are traced from its inception to present. We also chronicle the dilemmas and difficulties of moving toward a feminist community psychology. The history is divided into five phases. Each phase is described in terms of women's involvement in the field and efforts to integrate feminist content into research and practice of the field. Reflections on the qualities of contexts that have both supported and inhibited inclusion are identified. We look to this history to try to understand the observation that while women have been increasingly visible in leadership roles and women's professional development has been encouraged, less progress has been made toward building a feminist community psychology.     

FEMINISM AS LIFE RAFT

We looked at relationships between academic women's feminist identity and their perceptions of discrimination. From a sample of self-labeled feminist professors of psychology who had participated in the Feminist Teaching Project, we examined previously transcribed interviews and also collected new, auxiliary information. We expected to find that our respondents would view feminism as both provoking discrimination and helping them cope with discrimination. We found that experiences with gender discrimination were common among our sample, but that feminism in isolation was not perceived by our respondents as a provocation for problems. Rather than making it hard for women to swim in academic waters, feminism seemed to serve as a life raft for many professors.     

Radical Visionaries – Feminist Psychotherapists: 1970–1975

ABSTRACT

The work of feminist scholars, activists, therapists, and theorists has continuously impacted the United States and international cultural narrative since the radical days of the 1960s and 1970s. This special issue was created to highlight contributors to this remarkable transformation by documenting the narratives of their lives and careers. These profiles, nearly all written by or with the pioneers themselves, highlight their contributions to feminism, feminist psychology, and the vast societal change that followed their work.     

FEMINIST CONTRIBUTIONS TO COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY

In this article we first identify and provide evidence for feminist contributions to counseling psychology in four broad areas. These are policy and leadership in the field, theory and research, training and practice, and recognition of feminist scholarship and contributions by women. In view of the evidence, we conclude that feminist perspectives are irrevocably changing the field of counseling psychology by stimulating the rethinking of its premises and models with regard to normal development and by developing new approaches to inquiry and practice.     

Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism

This article provides a historical context of evolutionary psychology and feminism, and evaluates the contributions to this special issue of Sex Roles within that context. We briefly outline the basic tenets of evolutionary psychology and articulate its meta-theory of the origins of gender similarities and differences. The article then evaluates the specific contributions: Sexual Strategies Theory and the desire for sexual variety; evolved standards of beauty; hypothesized adaptations to ovulation; the appeal of risk taking in human mating; understanding the causes of sexual victimization; and the role of studies of lesbian mate preferences in evaluating the framework of evolutionary psychology. Discussion focuses on the importance of social and cultural context, human behavioral flexibility, and the evidentiary status of specific evolutionary psychological hypotheses. We conclude by examining the potential role of evolutionary psychology in addressing social problems identified by feminist agendas.     

Predictors of feminist social identity among college women

This study employed constructs derived from theories of social identity and collective action to test predictors of feminist social identity. The sample consisted of 95 Anglos, 36 African-Americans, 38 Asians, 43 Latinas, and 14 women who chose not to disclose their ethnicity. A two-step hierarchical multiple regression on these data showed that, as a group, positive evaluation of feminists, positive opinion of the feminist movement, exposure to feminism, recognition of discrimination against women, and belief in collective action contributed significantly to the prediction of feminist social identity, after support for feminist goals was entered into the equation. For a subsample of 36 African-American women, intercorrelations showed that racial identification, as well as a perception of conflict between racial identity and feminist identity, are compatible with aspects of feminist beliefs and values. Nevertheless, substantial differences between white women and women of color were found in willingness to socially identify as a feminist. Results support the importance of distinguishing between private feminist self-labeling and more social forms of feminist identification.     

A qualitative investigation of Muslim and Christian women's views of religion and feminism in their lives

This qualitative investigation explored a relatively understudied aspect of cultural diversity: feminism and religion in the lives of religiously diverse women. More specifically, structured interviews were used to investigate views of religion, women's issues, gender roles, culture, and feminism for a small group of Muslim and Christian women living in the United States. The data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Findings indicated a complex relationship between feminism, gender roles, culture, and religion for these women with the majority of the Muslim women reporting that their religion supports feminist principles and identifying themselves as feminist. Christian women were less willing to endorse the feminist label. Implications for multicultural feminist practice are discussed.     

The Relationship Between Gender Social Identity and Support for Feminism

This study is an application of social identity theory to feminist consciousness and activism. For women, strong gender identifications may enhance support for equality struggles, whereas for men, they may contribute to backlashes against feminism. University students (N = 276), primarily Euroamerican, completed a measure of gender self-esteem (GSE, that part of one's self-concept derived from one's gender), and two measures of feminism. High GSE in women and low GSE in men were related to support for feminism. Consistent with past research, women were more supportive of feminism than men, and in both genders, support for feminist ideas was greater than self-identification as a feminist.     

The Discrepancy Between How Women See Themselves and Feminists Predicts Identification with Feminism

Many women who accept the basic tenets of feminist ideology are reluctant to call themselves feminists, which is problematic because feminist self-identification is related to a variety of positive outcomes. The present research tests the idea that discrepancies between women’s self-view and feminist-view on the dimensions of competence and warmth are related to identification with feminism. This supposition is guided by the idea that a full understanding of why women have difficulty embracing feminism must take into account not only their view of feminists, but also whether women see themselves as different from feminists. Three online survey studies, which included 387, 288, and 116 adult U.S. women, demonstrate that perception of warmth identification with feminism was lower if women regard feminists as less warm than they see themselves. For perceptions of competence, the direction of this discrepancy was irrelevant: The more women see feminists as differently competent (i.e., higher or lower), the less they identify with feminists. Moreover, perceived discrepancy predicted identification with feminism even after controlling for women’s agreement with feminist values. Both endorsement of feminist values and perceived discrepancy are important in predicting identification with feminism and therefore practical interventions to maximize identification should target both of these components. For perceived discrepancy, interventions to reduce feminist-self discrepancies will likely be most effective if they target stereotypes of feminists as being cold.     

The Dynamics of Visual Speed,Time, and Space: A Reply to Cartwright,Koehler, and Wallach

The political attitudes of 50 feminist women in relation to “feminism” as a dimension were examined and contrasted with those of 50 of their contemporary female peers. They were administered the Attitudes Toward Feminism Belief-Pattern Scale (3), the Conservatism-Radicalism Opinionnaire (4), and a questionnaire providing biographical information and personal opinions regarding various timely political and feminine issues.

The feminist women and their peers were found to differ significantly in the attitudinal dimensions of feminism and political conservatism-radicalism. The feminist women manifested more feminism than their peers, as well as being more politically radical. Feminism as a dimension was also found to be positively correlated with political radicalism.

Both goups were also compared in their sentiments and opinions on several noteworthy issues; e.g., the potential influence of the women's vote in en- hancing the status of women. Surprisingly, the feminist women and their peers failed to differ on some of the more salient of these.

In order to understand and appreciate the feminist personality, the forces potentiating the Women's movement, and the apparent similarities and differences between the feminist women and their peers, the variables of feminism, political conservatism-radicalism, and activism seem to deserve consideration.     

Pathways to Feminist Identification

Life experiences that expose individuals to feminism lead to greater subsequent self-identification as feminist (e.g., D. H. Henderson-King & A. J. Stewart, 1999). The goal of this research was to identify mediators of this exposure–identification relationship. Ninety-six women completed measures of prior exposure to feminism, feminist self-identification, and a set of potential mediating variables. Results suggest that the exposure–identification relationship is at least partially (if not fully) mediated by common fate with women and negative evaluations of feminists; women with more prior exposure to feminism reported greater common fate with women and less negative evaluations of feminists, each of which, in turn, was associated with stronger feminist identification. Limitations of the model and alternative pathways to politicized gender consciousness are discussed.     

FEMINIST PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SERVICE OF WOMEN: STAYING ENGAGED WITHOUT GETTING MARRIED

This article, based on the 2005 Society for the Psychology of Women Presidential Address, presents a definition of feminism and evaluates feminist psychology and its current challenges through that lens. The principal theme is the tension between feminist psychology's engagement with the discipline and its ability to critique and alter both the discipline and the world. The article includes an analysis of the original 52 demands presented by women activists to the APA's Council of Representatives in 1970. Those demands are evaluated both in terms of progress and lack of achievement, as well as in terms of the limitations of the professional women's movement reflected in those original demands. The lack of success in achieving demands associated with structural change is highlighted. A framework for future feminist work that might achieve transformational change is offered.     

DILEMMATIC NEGOTIATIONS: THE (UN)TENABILITY OF FEMINIST IDENTITY

We explored how women talk about feminism and feminists and position themselves in relation to a feminist identity within a conversational setting. Nine pairs of female graduate and senior undergraduate students talked about feminism in sessions lasting 60 minutes. Sessions were analyzed using discourse analysis. Participants positioned themselves in multiple ways in relation to feminism. Notably, a feminist subject position was both difficult to take up and difficult to reject. In resolving the dilemma, to be or not to be feminist, participants drew on three interpretative repertoires: a liberal version emphasizing equality and rights, an extremist version emphasizing undesirable extremism, and a lifestyle feminist version entailing being feminist by virtue of how one lives. We discuss the implications of this multiplicity for conceptualizing feminist identity and for feminism as a political project.     

2007 CAROLYN SHERIF AWARD ADDRESS: SPIRITA: RECLAIMING WOMANIST SACREDNESS INTO FEMINISM

I introduce Spirita , a womanist and mujerista spirituality. Spirita redefines spirituality as protest, resistance, and r/evolution. In contrast to feminist mainstream spirituality, Spirita places the interaction of race and gender at the center of women's lives. A way of knowing and being, Spirita endorses a universal perspective. Consequently, it promotes collective healing, international solidarity, and global social justice. Finally, I present how Spirita can enrich mainstream feminism by moving the subjective experiences of women of color from the margins to the center of feminist thought.     

Addressing Conceptual Confusions About Evolutionary Theorizing: How and Why Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism Do Not Oppose Each Other

This commentary is a rejoinder to the Buss and Schmitt (2011) and Eagly and Wood (2011) commentaries concerning how evolutionary psychology and feminism might fit together. This rejoinder provides one path toward uniting these perspectives in psychological literature by accomplishing three tasks. First, this rejoinder addresses and removes conceptual confusions offered by Buss and Schmitt (2011) concerning the philosophy of science and psychology research. Second, this rejoinder fits evolutionary psychology perspectives into a correctly understood philosophy of science for psychology. Third, enacting Eagly and Wood’s (2011) suggestions, this rejoinder connects evolutionary psychology and feminism by expanding Tate and Ledbetter’s (2010) stepwise model for understanding the simultaneous contributions of evolutionary and developmental factors to psychological phenomena. Thus, by removing conceptual roadblocks, this rejoinder provides a scaffold for fruitful discussions concerning the interplay of evolutionary psychology and feminist perspectives when characterizing gender differences and similarities.     

Asian Women in the Ecumenical Movement: Voices of Resistance and Hope

Throughout Asian ecumenical history, Christian women have found ways to organize themselves and create structures that give them the space to articulate their concerns and contribute their theological and leadership skills to the church and society. Asia's complex context has played a pivotal role in framing the contributions of women to the ecumenical movement, while the ecumenical movement in Asia has played a key role in helping define feminism, feminist theory, and feminist theology for this continent, contributing to national‐level initiatives in each Asian country as well as to regional and to World Christianity. At the same time, ecumenical women in each nation of Asia have linked with secular women's efforts and with women of other faiths to bring transformation in the lives of women, to challenge violence in all its manifestations, and to demand justice and dignity for all women and men.