Fridays @ CCP Lecture Series
Marilyn Charles, PhD
(Pittsfield, MA)
Re-Finding the Feminine: Forgotten Threads of Meaning in Psychoanalysis
Friday February 12, 2027
7-9pm (CST)
1132 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 502, Chicago
& ZOOM
About the presentation: Psychoanalysis has been grounded in Freud’s discovery of the profound impact of unconscious processes on human being and meaning. And yet, his theories and technique pushed towards the more rational realms of meaning-making. He recognized the extent to which female development remained a “dark” and unexplored “continent” but seemed to turn a deaf ear to those women, such as Karen Horney, who had a seat at the table as psychoanalysis was forming. One hundred years later, Horney’s theorizing about what impedes our ability to recognize more fully the capacities and vulnerabilities inherent in the feminine remains relevant. In this paper, I explore some of the forgotten, or under-valued threads from women who have made significant contributions to our field. Through this effort, I hope to invite greater integration of those capacities marked, disparately male or female, qualities essential to our development as embodied, rational beings. (145).
This essay considers the largely unrecognized role of gender in the development of object use. It proposes a developmental continuum from the abject object to the phallic object, arguing that these mark successive organizations of gender within the symbolic. Read in this way, Winnicott's account of object use discloses a developmental logic that is coextensive with, yet extends beyond, his own formulation. What emerges is a conception of object use no longer organized by a phallic symbolic, but by a vaginal or feminine spatiality capable of holding paradox, difference, and transformation. The movement beyond gender polarity thus becomes both the precondition and the achievement of love and mutual recognition.
Marilyn Charles is a psychologist and psychoanalyst at the Austen Riggs Center, Co-Chair of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS), and Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council. Affiliations include the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, Universidad de Monterrey, Harvard Medical School, Adelphi University, and the Association for Psychosocial Studies. Research interests include creativity, metacognition, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, and the impact of devaluation on women and other marginalized groups. Books include: Working with Trauma: Lessons from Bion and Lacan; Introduction to Contemporary Psychoanalysis; Echoes of Trauma: Meaning and Identity in Psychoanalysis; and a volume of poetry: Orphans of the Real: Reflections on Love and Loss. (109)
Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to articulate a developmental movement from use of the abject to use of the phallic object as a newly theorized dimension of object use.
Participants will be able to explain how a gendered reinterpretation of Winnicott's theory of object use opens a developmental pathway beyond gender polarity toward mutual recognition, democratic relatedness, and love
This is an Intermediate Level Presentation
Fees
CCP members: free with annual $195 membership, payable at registration.
Students:free with annual $175 membership, payable at registration.
New Fellows / Ongoing: free with annual $250/$300 membership, payable at registration.
Non-CCP members, single admission: $50
Continuing Education
This program is sponsored for Continuing Education Credits by the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. There is no commercial support for this program, nor are there any relationships between the continuing education sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants or other funding that could be construed as conflicts of interest. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If the program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods. The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content. CCP is licensed by the state of Illinois to sponsor continuing education credits for Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors, Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy Counselors and Licensed Clinical Psychologists (license no. 159.000941 and 268.000020 and 168.000238 Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation).
Professionals holding the aforementioned credentials will receive 2.0 continuing education credits for attending the entire program. To receive these credits a completed evaluation form must be turned in at the end of the presentation and licensed psychologists must first complete a brief exam on the subject matter. No continuing education credit will be given for attending part of the presentation. Refunds for CE credit after the program begins will not be honored. If a participant has special needs or concerns about the program, s/he/they should contact Toula Kourliouros Kalven by February 11, 2027 at: tkalven@ccpsa.org
References/Suggested Readings
Aulagnier, P. (2015). Birth of a body, origin of a history. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 96(5), 1371–1401.
Charles, M. (2024). Somatization and symbolization. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 84:57-78.
Charles, M. (2025). Re-finding the feminine: Forgotten threads of meaning in psychoanalysis. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 85:531-553.
Charles, M. (2025). Echoes of Trauma: Meaning and Identity in Psychoanalysis. APA Books.
Crociani-Windland, L., & Charles, M. (Eds.). (2022). Repositioning the maternal: An intimate pedagogy [Special issue]. Journal of Psychosocial Studies,15(2).
Leikert, S. (2021). Encapsulated body engrams and somatic narration – Integrating body memory into psychoanalytic technique. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 102(4):671-688.
Lombardi, R. (2025) Transference onto the Body: Beyond the Relational, the Symbolic, and Hystorical. Psychoanalytic Dialogues 35:719-732.
Presented by
The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis/CCP Program Committee