-relations theory...Thus, without sacrificing 'the body' modern psychoanalytic theories of gender emphasize the particular and the symbolic over the generic gives of biology. (p. 250)
However, Goldner (1991) goes on to challenge even these newer conceptualizations of gender relationships, offering a fresh and essentially feministic perspective---and doing so within the overall psychoanalytic framework. Specifically, Goldner notes that ego psychology and object-relation theory postulate gender as an "identity" and that this construct is inherently problematic from a psychoanalytic framework which characterizes identity as far too complex to be adequately defined along a single male-female continuum. Indeed, Goldner states that those whose identity actually "fits" the cultural notions of the male/female dichotomy could be considered as suffering from an improverishmnent of character.
Goldner (1991) proposes a new model of gender, one that does not polarize the genders. This model holds that the conflict, tension and problematic relational aspects between the sexes (and perhaps between people in general) is not so much the result of differing biologies as the result of individuals trying to accommodate themselves to the notions, ideas, rules, and mores of the gender dichotomy. Being fictitious in nature and not truly descriptive of the complex and multidimensional nature of identity, when people attempt to accommodate themselves to this dichotomy, resistance and disruption in relationships occurs.
Goldner (1991) goes on to note that this model of gender and relationships has both diagnostic and treatment implications for the clinical psychoanalyst. Regarding clinical applications, Goldner (1991) asserts that attempting to accommodate gender polarization into one's identity nexus causes relational splitting, and those "fitting" into the end-points of the continuum (e.g., the strongly masculine and the strongly feminine possessin...