REACTIONS OF WOMEN TO NONSEXIST AND FEMINIST COUNSELING - EFFECTS OF COUNSELOR ORIENTATION AND MODE OF INFORMATION DELIVERY

Conflicting findings in the research on women's reactions to feminist counseling and therapy were investigated. Feminist and nonfeminist college women (N = 211) were exposed to nonsexist/humanistic, liberal feminist, or radical feminist counseling through a videotaped vignette, the written transcript of the videotape, or an extended written description. Participants' perceptions of the liberal feminist counselor were significantly more positive than perceptions of either the nonsexist or the radical feminist counselor. Few differences were found across modes of information delivery. Feminist participants perceived all counselors more favorably than did nonfeminist participants. In general, the results support the need to distinguish among variants of feminist therapy in counseling research and practice.