Gender, sexuality, and CAT

Abstract

Abstract This chapter suggests that people inhabit living bodies that are dynamic systems developing in relationship with their social and historical context. There is a live relationship between societal norms and expectations of how our bodies are defined, what we do with them, and how power is exercised. Throughout history different practices have been variously criminalized, pathologized, marginalized, celebrated, and legitimized. Current debate creates a dichotomy between personal relationships based on individual choice rather than on gendered roles. The former risks ignoring societal and political power dynamics, and the latter perpetuates norms established within the heterosexual nuclear family. Meg-John Barker’s reworking of Gayle Rubin’s charmed circle offers a more progressive, less reductionist model. This chapter argues that sexuality and gender have not always attracted the attention and the debate they require within the cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) community. A substantial shift is critical for CAT therapists to develop specific and up-to-date competencies in this field. An approach informed by diversity, and intersectional thinking and adopting affirmative practice provides the foundation. Understanding the relationship to these issues enables the therapist to be consciously aware of what they are bringing to the therapeutic process and of how different factors intersect in shaping the relationships of power in the therapy room. There is a need to promote collaborative, consensual practices that normalize differences without invalidating the unique ways in which people define and express their embodied presence in the world.