Profile
Esther Hutfless
Birth:
1980
Training Location(s):
Mag., University of Vienna (2005)
PhD, University of Vienna (2010)
Cert., Vienna Working Group for Psychoanalysis
Primary Affiliation(s):
Lecturer, University of Vienna
Vienna Working Group for Psychoanalysis
Private practice for psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy
Career Focus:
Philosopher, Psychoanalyst, University Lecturer, Professional Author
Biography
Esther Hutfless is a queer-feminist philosopher, independent researcher and psychoanalyst based in Vienna. She* is a member of the Vienna Working Group for Psychoanalysis and the International Psychoanalytic Association and teaches at the University of Vienna, Sigmund Freud Private University Linz and the Vienna Psychoanalytic Academy. Her* research fields include: Poststructuralism, Deconstruction, Feminist Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Queer Theory, and Psychoanalytic Social Theories.
Hutfless grew up in an Austrian village in Burgenland near the Hungarian border. As a child, she* helped out on her parents' (part-time) farm and very early developed an awareness of social origins, disadvantage, and the limitations of class: "I also very early on felt again and again the class boundaries that exist, of what somebody is believed to be capable of and what not, and where the obstacles are."
Although the elementary school teacher prevented her* from going to a secondary general secondary school (AHS) after elementary school - he didn't trust her to do so and advised her parents against it - she* was nevertheless the only one in her family to graduate from the Handelsakademie (a secondary business school that provides vocational training) with the Matura and began studying in Vienna.
Hutfless describes it as exhausting to constantly have to prove that she* was good enough to be allowed to continue going to school. She* found her German teacher supportive, through whom she* came into contact with critical Austrian literature, including works by Elfriede Jelinek [note E.R.: Austrian writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature] and Thomas Bernhard [note E.R.: influential Austrian writer], and thus her* political awareness was sharpened. Hutfless first studied art history, as she* believed she could find something there – without knowing what exactly it was she* was looking for. She* then switched to Philosophy, since she* considered it a discipline that was dealing more with those existential questions that still interested her* in art but were less of a topic there: "I came to philosophy through questions touching on art and literature."
Already in the first days of her* studies, the young student* joined the Communist Students' Association (KSV) in search of a community where she* suspected to find a similar background and was very quickly confronted with feminist issues and texts. For Hutfless, it was clear that "class issues always have something to do with gender issues," and she* asked her*self, "How do we become under the given social conditions?"
In the feminist-philosophical courses at the University of Vienna in the early 2000s, Hutfless was able to combine and develop her* interest in politics with that in feminism. Influential lecturers at the time were Birge Krondorfer, Alice Pechriggl, Eva Waniek and Ingvild Birkhan. Notable feminist theorists such as Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Judith Butler, and Teresa de Lauretis were taught through the curriculum, all of whom drew on psychoanalytic theory. Thus, Hutfless first learned about psychoanalysis as a theoretical concept before she* herself went into analysis. Hutfless began reading Sigmund Freud's texts only after a prolonged period of resistance - at first, the approaches of psychoanalysis seemed too homophobic and misogynistic to her*. Since then, she* has been an avid Freud reader and considers him one of the most important and extremely progressive thinkers of the 20th century for his time.
While working on her* dissertation, Hutfless began psychoanalysis her*self to "experience for her*self how it works practically." After a year in analysis, Hutfless made the decision to begin training as a psychoanalyst* her*self. Since 2013, she* has been working as an analyst in her own practice in Vienna.
During her studies Hutfless was active in the Austrian Student Union, and she* worked during her doctoral studies and during her psychotherapy training in the social sector, for example in an emergency shelter of the Vienna Red Cross and at TAMAR (counseling center for abused and sexually abused women*, girls* and children), which also motivated her* to continue in this direction and to work as a psychotherapist her*self.
As a philosopher and analyst, it is important for Hutfless to critically question the social system as well as gender constructions and to understand experiences of violence and self-devaluation not only as inner-psychic phenomena, but always against the background of the social system that has inscribed itself in a person. Hutfless is also concerned with subtle experiences of discrimination. These can be found in most biographies, but they are usually more difficult to recognize than obvious and conscious disadvantages. What power structures are at work, what subtle discriminations inscribe themselves, repeat themselves? Hutfless, who was sometimes ashamed of her* origins her*self but at the same time identified with them, can now look at her childhood and youth differently, as it was and is the social and structural societal conditions that present obstacles and limitations. "I felt like I was incompetent, like I was stupid, like I was inferior over and over again in my life at college."
Hutfless is organized and interconnected with her* colleagues both in Austria and internationally to advance queer feminist approaches. As characteristic of her* own way of working, Hutfless describes: "It's important to bring in your own desire, what you want to do, not to be intimidated." This attitude has always put her* in the difficult position of being "the* feminist who* is always upset about something" in her* education.
Hutfless finds incomprehensible the fear of some colleagues* that new approaches could endanger or destroy psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has also changed over time, scientific findings and new approaches have been taken up without eradicating psychoanalysis.
According to Hutfless, there is still much to be done, especially in the training of analysts. It was not until the 1990s that homosexuality was removed from the list of neurotic illnesses by the World Health Organization (WHO); accordingly, the constructs about gender, gender relations, homosexuality, and heterosexuality in psychoanalysis still seem rigid to Hutfless: "What Freud was thinking about, [...] questioning pathologization, didn't really happen radically and sustainably." Feminist and queer theories are still not taught, trans-persons are not accepted as training candidates, especially in Austria, and there is a lack of engagement with intersectional approaches. In psychoanalysis, people with a migration background, with (dis)abilities or with chronic illnesses, people of color, queer and trans people are strongly underrepresented. It would be important to better understand their problems in the context of analysis in order not to perpetuate discrimination.
Therefore, Esther Hutfless is very proud of her edited volume "Queering Psychoanalysis" with Barbara Zach, which has stimulated thought processes within the psychoanalytic community and aims to gradually initiate a change of discourse in psychoanalysis. It also aims to encourage queer persons and persons of color to pursue psychoanalytic training themselves.
Because according to Hutfless, "it [takes] a critical mass of queer and diverse people to change the discourse in institutions, too."
By Emelie Rack & Susanne Hahnl (2023)
1 The gender star/ gender asterik is a typographic style used in German language to make language more inclusive and gender affirming beyond the binary.
To cite this article, see Credits
Selected Works
By Esther Hutfless
Hutfless, E., Postl, G. (2013). In E. Schäfer (Ed.), Hélène Cixous: Das Lachen der Medusa - zusammen mit aktuellen Beiträgen. Wien: Passagen.
Hutfless, E. & Zach, B. (2017). Queering Psychoanalysis: Psychoanalyse und Queer Theory – Transdisziplinäre Verschränkungen (1. Vol.). Zaglossus Verlag.
Schäfer, E., Hutfless, E. & Zach, B. (2020). Was ist queer-feministische Psychoanalyse? Überlegungen zu einer kritischen und offenen Praxis. In B. Zehetner & K. Macke (Ed.), Freiheit und Feminismen. Feministische Beratung und Psychotherapie (p. 213-248). Psychosozial-Verlag.
Hutfless, E. (2021). Of Traces, Translations and Deconstruction: Reading Laplanche with Derrida. The Undecidable Unconscious: A Journal of Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis, 8(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1353/ujd.20...
Hutfless, E. (2021). Deterritorialisierungen des Begehrens. Zur Aktualität von Guy Hocquenghems „queerer“ Kritik an der Psychoanalyse. In Soziopolis. https://www.soziopolis.de/dete...
Hutfless, E. (2022). Von Identität zu Differenz zu Alterität. Jean Laplanche und das Denken nicht-normativer Geschlechtlichkeit in der Psychoanalyse. Kinderanalyse. Psychoanalyse im Kindes- und Jugendalter und ihre Anwendungen, 30 (1), 4-27. https://doi.org/10.21706/ka-30...
By and about Esther Hutfless
Hutfless, E. (2022, September 22). Interview by Susanne Hahnl [Video Recording].
Esther Hutfless
Birth:
1980
Training Location(s):
Mag., University of Vienna (2005)
PhD, University of Vienna (2010)
Cert., Vienna Working Group for Psychoanalysis
Primary Affiliation(s):
Lecturer, University of Vienna
Vienna Working Group for Psychoanalysis
Private practice for psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy
Career Focus:
Philosopher, Psychoanalyst, University Lecturer, Professional Author
Biography
Esther Hutfless is a queer-feminist philosopher, independent researcher and psychoanalyst based in Vienna. She* is a member of the Vienna Working Group for Psychoanalysis and the International Psychoanalytic Association and teaches at the University of Vienna, Sigmund Freud Private University Linz and the Vienna Psychoanalytic Academy. Her* research fields include: Poststructuralism, Deconstruction, Feminist Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Queer Theory, and Psychoanalytic Social Theories.
Hutfless grew up in an Austrian village in Burgenland near the Hungarian border. As a child, she* helped out on her parents' (part-time) farm and very early developed an awareness of social origins, disadvantage, and the limitations of class: "I also very early on felt again and again the class boundaries that exist, of what somebody is believed to be capable of and what not, and where the obstacles are."
Although the elementary school teacher prevented her* from going to a secondary general secondary school (AHS) after elementary school - he didn't trust her to do so and advised her parents against it - she* was nevertheless the only one in her family to graduate from the Handelsakademie (a secondary business school that provides vocational training) with the Matura and began studying in Vienna.
Hutfless describes it as exhausting to constantly have to prove that she* was good enough to be allowed to continue going to school. She* found her German teacher supportive, through whom she* came into contact with critical Austrian literature, including works by Elfriede Jelinek [note E.R.: Austrian writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature] and Thomas Bernhard [note E.R.: influential Austrian writer], and thus her* political awareness was sharpened. Hutfless first studied art history, as she* believed she could find something there – without knowing what exactly it was she* was looking for. She* then switched to Philosophy, since she* considered it a discipline that was dealing more with those existential questions that still interested her* in art but were less of a topic there: "I came to philosophy through questions touching on art and literature."
Already in the first days of her* studies, the young student* joined the Communist Students' Association (KSV) in search of a community where she* suspected to find a similar background and was very quickly confronted with feminist issues and texts. For Hutfless, it was clear that "class issues always have something to do with gender issues," and she* asked her*self, "How do we become under the given social conditions?"
In the feminist-philosophical courses at the University of Vienna in the early 2000s, Hutfless was able to combine and develop her* interest in politics with that in feminism. Influential lecturers at the time were Birge Krondorfer, Alice Pechriggl, Eva Waniek and Ingvild Birkhan. Notable feminist theorists such as Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Judith Butler, and Teresa de Lauretis were taught through the curriculum, all of whom drew on psychoanalytic theory. Thus, Hutfless first learned about psychoanalysis as a theoretical concept before she* herself went into analysis. Hutfless began reading Sigmund Freud's texts only after a prolonged period of resistance - at first, the approaches of psychoanalysis seemed too homophobic and misogynistic to her*. Since then, she* has been an avid Freud reader and considers him one of the most important and extremely progressive thinkers of the 20th century for his time.
While working on her* dissertation, Hutfless began psychoanalysis her*self to "experience for her*self how it works practically." After a year in analysis, Hutfless made the decision to begin training as a psychoanalyst* her*self. Since 2013, she* has been working as an analyst in her own practice in Vienna.
During her studies Hutfless was active in the Austrian Student Union, and she* worked during her doctoral studies and during her psychotherapy training in the social sector, for example in an emergency shelter of the Vienna Red Cross and at TAMAR (counseling center for abused and sexually abused women*, girls* and children), which also motivated her* to continue in this direction and to work as a psychotherapist her*self.
As a philosopher and analyst, it is important for Hutfless to critically question the social system as well as gender constructions and to understand experiences of violence and self-devaluation not only as inner-psychic phenomena, but always against the background of the social system that has inscribed itself in a person. Hutfless is also concerned with subtle experiences of discrimination. These can be found in most biographies, but they are usually more difficult to recognize than obvious and conscious disadvantages. What power structures are at work, what subtle discriminations inscribe themselves, repeat themselves? Hutfless, who was sometimes ashamed of her* origins her*self but at the same time identified with them, can now look at her childhood and youth differently, as it was and is the social and structural societal conditions that present obstacles and limitations. "I felt like I was incompetent, like I was stupid, like I was inferior over and over again in my life at college."
Hutfless is organized and interconnected with her* colleagues both in Austria and internationally to advance queer feminist approaches. As characteristic of her* own way of working, Hutfless describes: "It's important to bring in your own desire, what you want to do, not to be intimidated." This attitude has always put her* in the difficult position of being "the* feminist who* is always upset about something" in her* education.
Hutfless finds incomprehensible the fear of some colleagues* that new approaches could endanger or destroy psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has also changed over time, scientific findings and new approaches have been taken up without eradicating psychoanalysis.
According to Hutfless, there is still much to be done, especially in the training of analysts. It was not until the 1990s that homosexuality was removed from the list of neurotic illnesses by the World Health Organization (WHO); accordingly, the constructs about gender, gender relations, homosexuality, and heterosexuality in psychoanalysis still seem rigid to Hutfless: "What Freud was thinking about, [...] questioning pathologization, didn't really happen radically and sustainably." Feminist and queer theories are still not taught, trans-persons are not accepted as training candidates, especially in Austria, and there is a lack of engagement with intersectional approaches. In psychoanalysis, people with a migration background, with (dis)abilities or with chronic illnesses, people of color, queer and trans people are strongly underrepresented. It would be important to better understand their problems in the context of analysis in order not to perpetuate discrimination.
Therefore, Esther Hutfless is very proud of her edited volume "Queering Psychoanalysis" with Barbara Zach, which has stimulated thought processes within the psychoanalytic community and aims to gradually initiate a change of discourse in psychoanalysis. It also aims to encourage queer persons and persons of color to pursue psychoanalytic training themselves.
Because according to Hutfless, "it [takes] a critical mass of queer and diverse people to change the discourse in institutions, too."
By Emelie Rack & Susanne Hahnl (2023)
1 The gender star/ gender asterik is a typographic style used in German language to make language more inclusive and gender affirming beyond the binary.
To cite this article, see Credits
Selected Works
By Esther Hutfless
Hutfless, E., Postl, G. (2013). In E. Schäfer (Ed.), Hélène Cixous: Das Lachen der Medusa - zusammen mit aktuellen Beiträgen. Wien: Passagen.
Hutfless, E. & Zach, B. (2017). Queering Psychoanalysis: Psychoanalyse und Queer Theory – Transdisziplinäre Verschränkungen (1. Vol.). Zaglossus Verlag.
Schäfer, E., Hutfless, E. & Zach, B. (2020). Was ist queer-feministische Psychoanalyse? Überlegungen zu einer kritischen und offenen Praxis. In B. Zehetner & K. Macke (Ed.), Freiheit und Feminismen. Feministische Beratung und Psychotherapie (p. 213-248). Psychosozial-Verlag.
Hutfless, E. (2021). Of Traces, Translations and Deconstruction: Reading Laplanche with Derrida. The Undecidable Unconscious: A Journal of Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis, 8(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1353/ujd.20...
Hutfless, E. (2021). Deterritorialisierungen des Begehrens. Zur Aktualität von Guy Hocquenghems „queerer“ Kritik an der Psychoanalyse. In Soziopolis. https://www.soziopolis.de/dete...
Hutfless, E. (2022). Von Identität zu Differenz zu Alterität. Jean Laplanche und das Denken nicht-normativer Geschlechtlichkeit in der Psychoanalyse. Kinderanalyse. Psychoanalyse im Kindes- und Jugendalter und ihre Anwendungen, 30 (1), 4-27. https://doi.org/10.21706/ka-30...
By and about Esther Hutfless
Hutfless, E. (2022, September 22). Interview by Susanne Hahnl [Video Recording].