The following research aims to understand men's experiences of the fear of the feminine (FOF). Findings show that men experience multiple fears related to FOF in connection to their masculine gender roles. These fears included ones regarding: relationships, health, life and death, their place in society on the whole and issues of power within a perceived male hierarchy. The men interviewed express perceived differences between masculine and feminine gender roles. The research results imply that FOF maybe conceptualized as a censor, preventing men from infringing on prescribed gender boundaries. In addition, FOF may also be the impetus for using psychological defenses to distance from thoughts and behaviors perceived as not masculine. Implications for counseling and psychotherapy with male clients are discussed.
Aims: There is currently a lack of clarity surrounding how men experience anxiety. This is caused by epistemological limitations with the perspectives employed to explore male anxiety, but equally by a lack of empirical research and uncertainty of how to define masculinity. In order to explain male anxiety more effectively this study needed to overcome these limitations by both incorporating the notion that there are multiple masculinities, through which men experience specific anxieties, and allowing men to talk directly about their experiences. This study focused on one kind of masculine identity: that of male psychotherapists. Research design: A hermeneutic phenomenological method was employed. Eight male psychotherapists of various modalities were interviewed who work in a number of therapeutic contexts. Results: Anxiety patterns are complex and comprise of feelings that are very difficult to deal with. Yet, anxiety is also an impetus for learning and improvement. Conclusions: The few existing ideas of male anxiety fail to capture the complexity of how men experience anxiety. Concepts of male anxiety need to be defined with more accuracy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.