Perspective Chapter: Feminist Standpoint Theory - A Lens for Counseling Psychology Research and Practice

As a guiding critical research epistemology, Feminist Standpoint Theory (FST) combines the idea that all knowledge is situated with a claim that some sociocultural locations provide opportunities to develop epistemically advantaged knowledge about overarching systems of power. FST thus represents a framework for uniting researchers and participants in coalitions of solidarity to decolonialize traditions of knowledge and research that assume researchers are objective observers. In this paper, we discuss how FST research methodologies can offer counseling psychologists a nuanced systemic and intersectional lens to better situate each person and their lived experiences, and in turn, develop collaborative, meaningful social justice-oriented advocacy and interventions across individual and community spheres. Accordingly, in Part I, we argue that an FST lens can shape counseling psychologists’ approach to research. In Part II, we then discuss how this consequently influences clinical approaches that require engagement of a psychological lens to attend to the lived experiences of vulnerable groups.