What exactly is feminist therapy?
Feminist Therapy Historical Context:
Feminist therapy is foundational to our values and approach to therapy at ED and OCD Therapy. We get a lot of questions about what this actually means. At first glance, you might think this is just for women. You might think it means we are anti-male. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Feminist therapy is an evidence-based, justice-oriented approach that emerged in the 1960s during the second wave of feminism in the United States.
As the broader culture began to examine gender inequality and civil rights, women in psychology started to question how psychotherapy had been designed primarily by and for white, wealthy men. These clinicians recognized that traditional therapy models often pathologized women’s distress and ignored the social and political realities shaping people’s lives. The feminist therapy movement changed that. It invited therapists to examine power, privilege, and systemic oppression as core factors in mental health. While white men absolutely deserve all the benefits therapy can offer, so do women, queer folks, BIPOC communities, disabled individuals, trans and nonbinary people, and others whose lived experiences have been marginalized. A model of care that only reflects the needs of one group is incomplete at best and harmful at worst. For those in positions of privilege and power, men included, a therapy that doesn’t question patriarchal and white supremacist systems ultimately reinforces them, keeping everyone disconnected and constrained. As feminist therapists often say, patriarchy hurts us all.
What makes feminist therapy different?
Feminist therapy is a strengths-based, client-centered, and justice informed model of therapy that emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and empowerment rather than authority or hierarchy. The goal is to help clients understand how personal struggles are shaped by social forces, and to transform internalized shame into agency, self-trust, community building and liberation. Feminist therapy is particularly important in our work with eating disorders and body image, as cultural messaging around ideal body types (thin, white, able, cis, etc) influence the development of disordered eating and body hatred. My clients probably get annoyed at the amount of time I say, “You weren’t born hating your body, you were taught to.” Alas, it is true! Decades of research shows us that cultural conditioning shapes our psyches, our relationships to each other and ourselves.
Key tenants (and misconceptions) of feminist therapy:
Empowerment > Maintaining the status quo:
Feminist therapy looks at the ways in which systems of power in the broader culture impact the relationships we have with ourselves and with one another. Instead of going along with the ways in which we are told we “should” be, based on our gender, our race, our sexuality, etc— feminist therapy empowers clients to imagine and reach beyond the limits of what we have been sold. It wakes us up to power dynamics that teach us to be small, quiet, agreeable- and encourages us to reconnect with and use our voice. We learn to embrace our own power and use it to liberate not only ourselves, but all marginalized people. For example: when we learn that part of why we never feel good enough is because capitalism convinces us that our worth is dependent on our achievements, wealth and status- we then have a choice: do we keep holding ourselves to this unrealistic standard? Or do we challenge the the system that profits off of our insecurity? We begin to see rest, play and creativity as essential, and our healing becomes an act of resistance.
Collaboration > “Therapist Knows Best”
in the same vein as challenging power structures in society; feminist therapy helps us look at the power dynamic in the therapy room. Through a feminist therapy lens, the provider (therapist) is not the expert, the client is. To believe we (as therapists) know what is best for our clients is to reconstruct the same ‘power over’ ideology that patriarchy upholds. Instead, we work to share power where we can. We practice ‘power with’ our clients. This looks like collaborating on treatment goals and interventions, informed consent (fun fact: signed informed consent forms literally came from feminist therapy), exploring diagnosis together (if at all), building pre-crisis supports together to avoid psychiatric institutionalism and embracing client feedback throughout the process.
Patriarchy Hurts Us All > “Feminists Hate Men”
Feminist therapy doesn’t exclude men. Instead, it seeks to liberate everyone from the harms of patriarchal conditioning. Men are often socialized to suppress vulnerability and emotional expression, leading to higher rates of loneliness, depression, substance use, relational disconnection and even early death. When therapy creates a safe space for men to feel, reflect, and connect, it becomes a radical act of healing that benefits the entire community. The more we cultivate emotional awareness and empathy, the less harm we perpetuate. Liberation is collective, not individual. Feminist therapy welcomes men developing a healthy sense of self and masculinaty, beyond the confines of toxic masculinity.
A broader View of Mental Health
Traditional mental health frameworks often individualize distress, attributing suffering to chemical imbalances or personal shortcomings. Feminist therapy challenges this narrative- seeing mental health distress as a morally neutral and natural response to systemic harm.
While biology does play a role, feminist therapy recognizes that genes don’t exist in isolation; the environment we live in ‘pulls the trigger.’ We can’t separate the nervous system from the social system. Understanding this interplay allows for deeper self compassion and more holistic care.
This approach also aligns with neurodiversity-affirming practice, rejecting the idea that some body-minds are inherently “better” or “more normal” than others. Instead, we celebrate diverse ways of thinking, feeling, and being. Rather than forcing conformity, feminist therapy invites accommodation, creativity, and authenticity.
Why Feminist Therapy Matters in Eating Disorder and OCD Treatment
For those navigating eating disorders , body image issues or OCD, feminist therapy offers an essential counterpoint to perfectionism, shame, black and white thinking, and control. These struggles don’t occur in a vacuum, they’re often responses to living in systems that demand self-erasure, compliance, and performance in order to be deemed “worthy.” You are already worthy, though.
Through this lens, recovery becomes more than symptom reduction, it becomes an act of reclamation. Reclaiming the right to inhabit your body without apology, without seeing it as something to “fix.” Reclaiming self-trust after years of external control. Reclaiming your voice in a world that benefits from your silence.
Feminist therapy helps us imagine healing is about belonging to ourselves and each other more fully.
Final Reflection
Whether you identify as a woman, man, nonbinary, trans, or anywhere in between, feminist therapy invites you to step into your full humanity, unlearn the shame that was never yours to carry, and build a life rooted in connection, justice, and compassion. If this resonates with you and you want to learn more, reach out to my team and we’d be happy to connect with you! As always, if we aren’t the right fit, we’ll help you find someone who is through our wonderful network of like minded clinicians. Rooting for you!
