Counseling the Contemporary Woman. Suzanne Degges-White

      ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

      Lanham • Boulder • New York • London

      Executive Editor: Mark Kerr

      Assistant Editor: Courtney Packard

      Production Editor: Kellie Hagan

      Cover Designer: Sally Rinehart

      Published by Rowman & Littlefield

      An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

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      Copyright © 2021 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

       Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Degges-White, Suzanne, author. | Kepic, Marcela, 1976–, author. | Killam, Wendy K., author.

      Title: Counseling the contemporary woman : strategies and interventions across the lifespan / Suzanne Degges-White, Marcela Kepic, Wendy Killam.

      Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “This book provides a unique perspective on the development, challenges, and needs of women as they navigate through life. It includes culturally diverse case studies, interventions, and best practices for counselors working with women across the lifespan. Topics include normative developmental issues, relationships, self-esteem, body image, addictions, parenting, caregiving, and loss”—Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019050782 (print) | LCCN 2019050783 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538123607 (cloth) | ISBN 9781538123614 (paperback) | ISBN 9781538123621 (epub)

      Subjects: LCSH: Women—Counseling of. | Women—Psychology. | Teenage girls—Counseling of. | Counseling psychology.

      Classification: LCC HQ1206 .D3584 2020 (print) | LCC HQ1206 (ebook) | DDC 155.3/33—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019050782

      LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019050783

      Acknowledgments

      This project is the culmination of the efforts of many individuals who are dedicated to doing what they can to better the lives of others. We celebrate the investment of energy and time by all of the clinicians who work with women, as well as the energy and time invested by their clients who work on themselves. We are grateful to everyone who advocates for the needs of women and to those who strive to provide the best care they can. We hope this book provides helpful information as well as validation of the work that is done to enhance the lives of others. We also would like to acknowledge the support of our editorial team at Rowman & Littlefield, including Courtney Packard and Mark Kerr.

      Part I

      Foundational Perspectives and Theory

      Chapter 1

      Reenvisioning the Feminine Ideal

      Adrienne N. Erby

      Women Are the Sum of Many Diverse Parts

      Throughout the lifespan, women and girls receive explicit and implicit messages about the value and roles they hold in society. These messages are heavily shaped by cultural values; however, it is also important to recognize that many of these cultural values are steeped in systems of oppression, including sexism, genderism, patriarchy, and androcentrism (Singh & Mingo, 2018). These intertwined systems of oppression directly and indirectly affect people of all genders, setting standards, rules, and norms about gender identity, expression, and behavior. Gender typing begins early in development as children are socialized into a gender binary that gives differential value to boys and girls while overlooking nonbinary and gender-variant identities entirely. Children quickly associate behaviors with gender and assign value based on the gendered norms and ideals that pervade all aspects of society, from preschool teachers to mass media (Comstock, 2005). The “feminine ideal” typically refers to a narrow, culturally laden visage of valued womanhood, encompassing both appearance and behavior. An online search for stock photos using the phrase “all-American girl” yielded results of mostly white, thin, young, able-bodied, feminine women with flowing blond hair. This image is often set as the standard for women, creating a restrictive lens through which all women are evaluated and most often found wanting. These images belie the breadth of women’s diversity and communicate clear cultural messages about American womanhood.

      Given this context, it is not surprising that women and girls as well as transgender and gender nonconforming individuals in the United States face unique physical and mental health risks connected to gender-specific issues such as gender conformity, role overload, and body image (American Psychological Association [APA], 2018; Crissman, Stroumsa, Kobernik, & Berger, 2019; Glynn, Maclean, Forte, & Cohen, 2009). These and other issues of health information, health-care access, and health risks are identified for women and girls around the globe. Women are disproportionately impacted by sexual violence and intimate partner violence, as well as health and income disparities (APA, 2018; James et al., 2016; Planty, Langston, Krebs, Berzofsky, & Smiley-McDonald, 2013; Singh & Mingo, 2018; Vardeman-Winter, 2017). Even within these issues, there is considerable intragroup (i.e., within-group) variation that is not strictly dichotomous. To provide effective counseling, counselors must understand women’s experience and issues through a multifaceted lens that fully embraces cultural diversity and complexity.

      Sue and Sue’s (2013) tripartite model addressing individual, cultural, and universal factors provides the most comprehensive frame of personal identity, in which all individuals, in many respects, are (a) like no other individual, (b) like some individuals, or (c) like all other individuals (p. 41). First, individual uniqueness entails factors specific to the individual, such as genetic specificity, convergence of multiple social identity groups, and lived experience. As each woman’s experience differs from all other women’s experiences, understanding the individual is fundamental to ethical counseling practice. But individual experience does not occur in a vacuum; rather, experience is influenced and shaped by a cultural and sociopolitical context that all people are affected by and contribute to. Cultural identity reflects the most complex element of identity, including areas of shared identities and experiences, such as being Southeast Asian or being a woman. Within these cultural groupings, there is still wide variation and overlap that cannot be conceptualized in an additive form. As Bowleg (2008) stated, “Black + lesbian + woman ≠ Black lesbian woman,” suggesting that shared membership in each group does not result in a uniform experience. Lastly, universal dimensions of identity include factors common to all people, such as the ability to use symbols and experience emotions. It is at this universal level that