Feb 20 2025 67 mins 5
Rendering Unconscious Podcast is now at Substack! https://renderingunconscious.substack.com
RU333: GEOFFREY HERVEY, MOLLY MERSON & SIMONE A. MEDINA POLO ON THE QUEERNESS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS:
https://renderingunconscious.substack.com/p/ru333-geoffrey-hervey-molly-merson
Geoffrey Hervey, Molly Merson, and Simone A. Medina Polo are here to discuss their contributions to The Queerness of Psychoanalysis: From Freud and Lacan to Laplanche and Beyond (Routledge 2025) edited by Vanessa Sinclair, Elisabeth Punzi, and Myriam Sauer: https://amzn.to/3EMYbUg
Events to celebrate the book's release are happening!
Join Vanessa Sinclair, Myriam Sauer, and Elisabeth Punzi in Malmö, Sweden on Saturday, March 15th: https://fb.me/e/8VAlKjxgt
Join M.E. O'Brien, Tobias Wiggins, Myriam Sauer, and Griffin Hansbury in Brooklyn, NY, USA on Friday, March 28th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-transgender-psychoanalysts-are-coming-tickets-1143110808199?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios
Molly Merson is co-organizing the upcoming Division 39 Spring Meeting, Bodies in Praxis, April 3-6, Online: https://division39springmeeting.net
Rendering Unconscious episode 333.
This discussion centers around the new book The Queerness of Psychoanalysis, which addresses the pathologizing tendencies of psychoanalysis in contrast to its liberatory potential. Contributors, almost all of whom are trans and/or queer, challenge traditional psychoanalytic frameworks, emphasizing flexibility and inclusivity, while exploring the intersection of queer theory and psychoanalysis. Specific chapters highlight experiences of transgender psychoanalysts, the role of drag in queer identity, and the need for psychoanalysis to reflect on its own practices, for example. This conversation also touches on the importance of embodied methods and the evolving nature of psychoanalytic theory.
Geoffrey Hervey (they/them) is a community organizer, mental health professional, and professional drag artist. They have a master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Vanderbilt University and are currently pursuing a Psy.D at George Washington University. Their clinical interests center the mental health of marginalized groups of people from a collective liberation framework. As Sin Clair, they have performed in the Southeast U.S. to audiences of thousands and created the Lipsync Legend Tournament to benefit local community mental health organizations. Follow them at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sin.clair.x_x/
Molly Merson, LMFT (they/them) is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in full-time independent practice in the Bay Area, California, practicing on Lisjan Ohlone, Patwin, and Coast Miwok unceded territories. Molly is a clinician, supervisor, author, and instructor, offering interdisciplinary courses for clinicians on psychoanalysis and race, queerness, class, decoloniality, and liberation. Molly facilitates and participates in groups that invite discussions of the entanglements between “the social” and clinical life. Molly has authored “The Whiteness Taboo: Interrogating Whiteness in Psychoanalysis” published in the journal Psychoanalytic Dialogues in 2021, and in the same year authored “Purposive encounters with lack in strength sports and diet culture” in the journal Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. Follow them at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mx_moll_/
Simone A. Medina Polo (she/her) is a philosopher and PhD candidate at the Global Centre for Advanced Studies (GCAS) for Philosophy and Psychoanalysis. Follow her at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pseudo_antigone/
The song at the end of the episode is “We will be (outside the box)” from the album “The cutting up of love and language” by Vanessa Sinclair and Pete Murphy. Available at Pete Murphy’s Bandcamp Page: https://petemurphy.bandcamp.com/
Our music is also available at Spotify and other streaming services: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3xKEE2NPGatImt46OgaemY?si=jaSKCqnmSD-NsSlBLjrBXA
RU333: GEOFFREY HERVEY, MOLLY MERSON & SIMONE A. MEDINA POLO ON THE QUEERNESS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS:
https://renderingunconscious.substack.com/p/ru333-geoffrey-hervey-molly-merson
Geoffrey Hervey, Molly Merson, and Simone A. Medina Polo are here to discuss their contributions to The Queerness of Psychoanalysis: From Freud and Lacan to Laplanche and Beyond (Routledge 2025) edited by Vanessa Sinclair, Elisabeth Punzi, and Myriam Sauer: https://amzn.to/3EMYbUg
Events to celebrate the book's release are happening!
Join Vanessa Sinclair, Myriam Sauer, and Elisabeth Punzi in Malmö, Sweden on Saturday, March 15th: https://fb.me/e/8VAlKjxgt
Join M.E. O'Brien, Tobias Wiggins, Myriam Sauer, and Griffin Hansbury in Brooklyn, NY, USA on Friday, March 28th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-transgender-psychoanalysts-are-coming-tickets-1143110808199?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios
Molly Merson is co-organizing the upcoming Division 39 Spring Meeting, Bodies in Praxis, April 3-6, Online: https://division39springmeeting.net
Rendering Unconscious episode 333.
This discussion centers around the new book The Queerness of Psychoanalysis, which addresses the pathologizing tendencies of psychoanalysis in contrast to its liberatory potential. Contributors, almost all of whom are trans and/or queer, challenge traditional psychoanalytic frameworks, emphasizing flexibility and inclusivity, while exploring the intersection of queer theory and psychoanalysis. Specific chapters highlight experiences of transgender psychoanalysts, the role of drag in queer identity, and the need for psychoanalysis to reflect on its own practices, for example. This conversation also touches on the importance of embodied methods and the evolving nature of psychoanalytic theory.
Geoffrey Hervey (they/them) is a community organizer, mental health professional, and professional drag artist. They have a master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Vanderbilt University and are currently pursuing a Psy.D at George Washington University. Their clinical interests center the mental health of marginalized groups of people from a collective liberation framework. As Sin Clair, they have performed in the Southeast U.S. to audiences of thousands and created the Lipsync Legend Tournament to benefit local community mental health organizations. Follow them at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sin.clair.x_x/
Molly Merson, LMFT (they/them) is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in full-time independent practice in the Bay Area, California, practicing on Lisjan Ohlone, Patwin, and Coast Miwok unceded territories. Molly is a clinician, supervisor, author, and instructor, offering interdisciplinary courses for clinicians on psychoanalysis and race, queerness, class, decoloniality, and liberation. Molly facilitates and participates in groups that invite discussions of the entanglements between “the social” and clinical life. Molly has authored “The Whiteness Taboo: Interrogating Whiteness in Psychoanalysis” published in the journal Psychoanalytic Dialogues in 2021, and in the same year authored “Purposive encounters with lack in strength sports and diet culture” in the journal Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. Follow them at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mx_moll_/
Simone A. Medina Polo (she/her) is a philosopher and PhD candidate at the Global Centre for Advanced Studies (GCAS) for Philosophy and Psychoanalysis. Follow her at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pseudo_antigone/
The song at the end of the episode is “We will be (outside the box)” from the album “The cutting up of love and language” by Vanessa Sinclair and Pete Murphy. Available at Pete Murphy’s Bandcamp Page: https://petemurphy.bandcamp.com/
Our music is also available at Spotify and other streaming services: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3xKEE2NPGatImt46OgaemY?si=jaSKCqnmSD-NsSlBLjrBXA
