Comments on the Sexual Solipsism of Sigmund Freud

I have to first admit that I was confused reading Chapter 5 of The Feminine Mystique because I did not know was “solipsism” means. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines it as:

“the view that “I am the only mind which exists,” or ‘My mental states are the only mental states’…. Existence is everything that I experience — physical objects, other people, events and processes — anything that would commonly be regarded as a constituent of the space and time in which I coexist with others and is necessarily construed by me as part of the content of my consciousness.”

Essentially, for a solipsist, no meaning can be attached to emotions, thoughts, and experiences, other than his/her own meaning.

Of course, anything to do with Freud is sexual.  His idea is that women are not able to think like men and are bore to merely serve men. Many of my guy friends have this macho mentality (must be the teachings of their non-progressive, soviet fathers), and I myself do not identify as a real feminist, so I don’t have these discussions often. Many of my guy friends would probably enjoy Freud’s work – expecting women to be always happy, dainty, fragile, and emotional.

While Friedan ultimately blames Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis for the feminine mystique, she shifts the blame to “the popularisers and translators of Freudian thought in the colleges and universities.” I think this is true because today the mass media is responsible for our conventional wisdom, and the good work gets often settled aside. We must be careful and take into consideration the stereotypes we perpetuate based on cultural and social expectations.