External Appearance as a “Purely Female Issue”

The paper presents the main theses of the report entitled “The Role of Women in the History of Psychology in the 20th Century and Today”. The author presented this report at the International Scientific-Practical Conference “Sabina Nikolaevna Spielrein: Her Personality and Contribution to Psychoanalysis, Developmental Psychology, and Clinical Psychology” (November 7–8, 2015). In the report the author underlined that S. N. Spielrein was a scientist who laid the foundation of “Women's Studies” in the humanities, gender studies, psychology, and psychoanalysis. When studying “women's experience” women scientists concentrate on thediscussion of some issues of human external appearance. When explaining therelevance of this study the author notes that previous research demonstrates that this issue is considered as a “women's issue”. Moreover, the external appearance of S. N. Spielrein “escapes” researchers. In her diary S. N. Spielrein finds herself unattractive, has doubts about her female virtues. S. N. Spielrein's life is constructed “from the outside”. Thus, the problem ofwomen's external appearance, existing within masculine eyesight, isone of issues in women's studies. In the report the author reviews a number ofstudies– “women's studies” – devoted to women's studies of such phenomena as theexperience of external appearance evaluation, concern about external appea rance. These studies may be useful in consideration of some aspects ofthe biography ofS.N. Spielrein.