Freud, Dora, and Compulsory SexualityFreud, Dora

Abstract “Freud, Dora, and Compulsory Sexuality” examines Freud’s attempt to impose male sexuality onto a patient he renamed “Dora.” While Dora, an adolescent girl, did not begin seeing Freud to receive help with a sexual discrepancy issue, this chapter shows that a sexual discrepancy did surface during her treatment, the discrepancy between the way Dora’s male therapist interpreted her sexuality and the way she interpreted her own. The chapter shows how, in the name of treating Dora’s psychological symptoms, Freud imposed his sexual story onto Dora while simultaneously excluding and nullifying Dora’s own thoughts, feelings, and experiential reality.