Customer Reviews

The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, & the Problem of Domination

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Initially I was shown this book by a friend because it contains an analysis of the "Story of O".

I especially liked the attempt by Benjamin to work out a cogent explanation of the source and nature of feminine Sexual Desire. She doesn't arrive at adefinitive model but does present a convincing case that it lies in the sense of being able to feel safe and free within a "transistional space" wherein one feels ones drives as being from ones own self and not the result of identifcation with the other.

Overall a very dense book, that for me rewarded skipping around alot.

In remarkably clear language, Benjamin reworks Freudian psychoanalysis so to include the possibility of mothers and fathers mutually recognizing each other as subjects thereby enabling a cooperative relationship where similarities and differences are acknowledged. Without this modification, she argues that traditional Freudian theories with their sole reliance on individual intrapsychic reality cannot help but reproduce patriarchal gender relationships which are characterized by domination and submission, most notably reflected in the cultural polarity of male rationality and female vulnerability as seen, for example, in the Story of O. She further argues that the dispassionate rationality of the marketplace masks not only the dependency of the working class but male domination as well. Convincing in its integration of Freudian theory with both feminism and marxism, it marks a significant step forward in understanding how the personal is indeed political.

This is an incredible book. Jessica Benjamin is able to make complex and nuanced concepts easily accessible to her audience. This is one you will read, underline, and find yourself referencing. Her ideas are still very contemporary and I was surprised to see the publication date! I wish she would write more!

Are a bit ephemeral, according to Benjamin, for they suppose and originate in the constitutive acts of an other subject, acts which not only may recognize one's subjectivity but also fail to recognize one's subjectivity. Thus the pain when such a failure occurs. Thus the efforts individuals expend to manage their lives to avoid such pain.

Benjamin's book was hardly the first to address these issues. It was, however, the first to address them systematically while relating them to feminist theory. An important book. A must read for those interested in Left political and social theory.