Gender and identity issues in the analytic process

The influence of gender--of analyst and analysand--in the unfolding of the analytic process is being addressed. A brief discussion of the reasons why such influence was either dismissed or denied in the analytic literature until recently, is followed by an overview of possible analyst-analysand interactions in the four gender-related dyads. Finally two specific developments, not uncommon in the transference of female patients in analysis with female analysts (and their countertransference implications) are presented. The first refers to the issues around closeness and distance with the maternal object (usually expressed as issues over control and as a sado-masochistic struggle with the analyst in the transference), while the second to the erotization of the transference.