Who is Ellyn Kaschak?
A professor of psychology at San Jose State University in California and a prominent feminist psychotherapist, Ellyn Kaschak has been an important contributor to psychology. In a field that often views the male personality as the norm, Ellyn Kaschak has introduced many crucial theories of feminist psychology. Ellyn Kaschak is most likely best known for her theory of the “Antigone Complex,” introduced in her book Engendered Lives: The Psychology of Women’s Experience. Kaschak’s Antigone Complex takes a hard look at Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus Complex, adapting it to the experiences women face in modern society. The Oedipus Complex, a part of the theories Sigmund Freud developed more than a hundred years ago, addresses the subject of male development. Freud proposed that boys learned male gender roles via the Oedipus Complex, which was marked by a boy’s sexual desire for his mother. The boy learned to be a man by fearing punishment – and ultimately, castration – at the hands of his father in
