The Female Experience

Reflecting upon "Third World Women and Conflicts in Feminist Perspectives and Art Therapy" I couldn't stop thinking about my clients. Many of the points she makes can be applied to interactions with any client, not limited to race or gender.

Talwar's article states that the increasing number of art therapy graduates in the U.S. are women who work with low income populations, "primarily ethnic minorities and women". This was the first thing I noticed when entering therapeutic art education and have continued to see this pattern in the field of art therapy. She stresses the importance of helping clients find their own voice through artistic expression. However, therapists need to avoid generalizations about the meaning of symbolic content, which we are always being reminded of.

She talks about what constitutes a feminist issue and how feminist theory must reflect the lived experience of women. This idea is reinforced through the foundation of any human relationship. We create both everyday and therapeutic relationships through the creation of shared meaning. Without the basis of any common ground, is it possible to establish trust? She then says we must broaden the psychology of women to include all types of women. Gender is just one variable of the social construct to understand the female experience.

Talwar states, "many art therapists look at the ability to apprehend visual information and tend to operate from a place of judgement rather than empathy" and their interpretations constantly intrude on their observations. This I feel is the most relevant and applicable piece of information to my experiences now. There is a fine balance between being open to what a client is saying and making the necessary inferences to help a client move forward without allowing your interpretations to intrude on your observations.