| Abstract: | Feminism implies, and comes out of, a phenomenological philosophy. This means that we know what is true not by the "givens" of society, but by listening to our inner experience and that of others. The fundamental political act is the same as the fundamental therapeutic act: it is the process of joining another person's experience in a way which enables that person to make explicit her internal knowledge of what is real. The therapeutic stance, which implies a belief in the basic rightness of a person's way of being in the world, is what makes this kind of experimental knowing possible. To carry our thinking and practice of feminist theory forward in an authentic way, we must approach ourselves and one another from a therapeutic stance. From this we can begin to formulate a reality which encompasses the experience of those who have thus far been invisible and silenced. This article uses the problem of boundary violations as an example of a current issue in feminist therapy that can be explored from an experiential perspective. The questions that come out of this perspective can inform our creation of a therapy and society that is truly pluralistic. |
