Women, Gender & Psychoanalysis

Letter from the President 2010

Dear Friends,

It has been delightful and exciting to serve as your President over the past three years, and I am turning over the leadership of our wonderful organization to Joann Ponder, whom I know is excited to be assuming leadership over such a wonderful, supportive and interactive group.

Our accomplishments over the past three years are many.  We have sustained and increased our membership.  We have banded together to develop exciting programs that will be submitted and presented in the years to come.  Over the past years, we have had juried programs accepted at the APA and Division 39 conferences with subjects ranging from “Flirting” to a presentation on the quiet revolution in the status of women.

Our program for 2011 has been accepted by the conference organizers, and we will be hosting a conversation hour in New York with Dr. Danielle Knafo as our presenter.  Her paper is Women’s Self-Representation: A Dialogue between Psychoanalysis and Art. Ten pioneering female artists (including Frida Kahlo and Cindy Sherman), all of whom used their own bodies in their art, will be discussed from an aesthetic, psychoanalytic and social dimension. Danielle Knafo, Ph.D., psychoanalyst and art critic, is also a Professor in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Long Island University and an Associate Professor and Supervisor at NYU’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. We are most fortunate to have Danielle present for us as her recent presentations at Austen Riggs received rave notices.

I plan to remain involved with our section and to offer support to Joann whenever needed.  Special thanks to Judy Logue and Maurine Kelly who have been supporters of the initiatives that we have developed for Section III, to George Jones, who was our previous and capable administrator and to Ruth Helein, who has taken over as our current administrator.  Our special thanks to Connie Halligan, our treasurer, and a word of thanks to Royce Jalazzo, who helped streamline our website and set us on the road to computer literacy.  I want to extend special thanks to our Board: JoAnn Ponder, Eileen Kohutis, Connie Halligan, Judith Logue, Emily Ets-Hokin, Lynne Harkless, Maurine Kelly, Jane Kupersmidt, Louis Rothschild , Linda Rudy, Martha Temple, Jane Tillman, Jessica Zucker, Devon King, Shari Thurer, Ellen Toronto, and Royce Jalazo, and to thank them for their continued support and enthusiasm in their support of our initiatives.

I look forward to your continued energy and participation in our Section.  I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season, and look forward to seeing you in New York and all of our subsequent adventures.

With affection and appreciation,

Marilyn Metzl, PhD., ABPP

President, Section III

Letter from the President 2009

Dear Friends,

San Antonio was an exciting and thought provoking meeting and all who attended marveled at the coordination and planning that made the event run seamlessly.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the members of the board who helped to energize this event by participation and encouragement.  Our guest psychiatrists from Mongolia arrived in San Antonio with limited knowledge of English.  Since their young translator was not allowed to accompany them, it was an act of grace to witness the caring and interaction that all members of the Division 39 board extended towards them.  A special thank you from Section III to Royce Jalazo, who engineered a trip to the San Antonio State Hospital for our Mongolian colleagues, who were overwhelmed and appreciative of the experience and will certainly bring the information home to their native country.  Many contacts were made by them and I am certain that their interest in psychoanalysis, as demonstrated by the extreme measures that they took to come to the convention, will be rewarded.

The Section III award this year was given to Jaine Darwin for her excellence in leadership and for her sensitivity and caring about the fate of our service personnel and their families, and her attempts to integrate their return from war as peacefully and thoughtfully as possible.  Jane’s award was a curved crystal clock that will stand on her desk, and when I attempted to briefly return it to have the engraving deepened, Jaine indicated that she would like it just the way it was, and would not part with it, so I guess that our award was a success.

As you know, our program for the August meeting was accepted, and Ellen Toronto will be sending out more news about the program.  Judith Logue is coordinating the writing of the proposal for the Chicago meetings and we have high hopes for its success.
In the matter of business, many people approached me in San Antonio asking what has happened to Louis’s excellent e-mail discussion group, and the first discussion on the topic of flirting.  We were all delighted that Louis had agreed to chair the online discussion committee and to help select one person each month to choose the topic.  It was of concern to members who sought me out at the meeting to express their opinion that in our excitement about the comings and goings of the Section, our discussion group was subsumed by personal business.  Therefore, a discussion ensued and the idea of setting up two separate e-mail listserves for our Boardmembers  based on the frequency of emails and updates was generated.  One listserv, for those who enjoy receiving e-mails concerning the minutia of the section and the daily ins and outs of section business, will be created for the high frequency users and these participants will receive all communication.  A second listserv, will be created for low frequency users, those who expressed annoyance at the extreme volume of e-mails they receive and indicated that they would prefer to receive announcements after the ruminating and discussing has been completed.  Please indicate your choice of being either high frequency or a low frequency user.  Please email me your choice and Royce will then generate two separate groups so that the appropriate amount of information can be received.  Our discussion group will continue to post on our Membership Listserv of which everyone is a part.
Eileen, as Past-president, is chairing the Elections Committee and will soon solicit nominations, and Maurine has agreed to work in conjunction with Royce to contact non-renewing members and to encourage them to rejoin as many of you know your participation is needed and is welcomed and I look forward to hearing from you concerning any tasks that you would like to either assume or create.

I would like to share the exciting news that our Section III program on flirting as non-verbal communication was packed, with over 50 people attending at 8 A.M. and our presenter, Dr.Monica Moore found the experience as invigorating as we all did. Thank you for your support and your participation!!!

With fondest regard,

Marilyn N. Metzl, Ph.D., ABPP
Section III President