Animus gay

It allowed for more nuanced, spectrum-based understandings of psychological femininity and masculinity. This is why possession states are so dangerous and destructive when they seize a couple in a relationship. Gay men, for sure, don't experience Animus. In her model, the anima represents our capacity for affiliation and relatedness, while the animus embodies our ability to take action and make an impact on the world.

He saw these inner figures as rooted in the collective unconscious, the universal psychic substrate that all humans share. He becomes touchy and irritable, with only a thin veneer of good will on the surface. Because the activated archetype carries such a strong emotional charge, the possessed person may feel extraordinarily alive, ecstatically swept up in the grips of a seemingly higher power.

Know that Anima/Animus is just a gendered based terminology based on the person's biological sex, but it is the same thing, only different parts/charges are perceived. She writes:. He felt that rigidly aligning the anima with stereotypical feminine traits and the animus with classically masculine qualities enforced limiting gender norms.

Conversely, a woman in the throes of animus possession may come across as harshly critical, rigidly opinionated, or aggressively domineering. What I want to explore is a way of thinking about the anima as carrying within its archetypal impulse, desire, and its archetypal partner, the animus, prohibition.

For Hillman, contrasexuality was metaphorical, not literal. Neumann saw an analogous developmental sequence for the animus in women:. His work paved the way for contemporary non-binary, trans, and genderfluid readings of Jung. Jung wrote:. For example, Jungian analyst Polly Young-Eisendrath argues that Jung overly idealized the feminine while denigrating real flesh-and-blood women.

He makes her say spiteful, malicious things that discredit her and make her feel like a failure. Jungian analyst M. Esther Harding explains:. A man will fall in love with a woman who embodies his anima image, while a woman will choose a mate who carries her animus projection.

He defined the anima as the unconscious feminine side of a man and the animus as the unconscious masculine side of a woman. Analyst Naomi Goldenberg proposed that all people have both an anima and an animus within their psyche, regardless of their sex or gender identity.

The concept of the anima and animus is one of the most enduring and influential ideas to emerge from the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. She may be full of fiery assertions and unshakable convictions, while being cut off from her more receptive, nurturing side.

Marie-Louise von Franz provides a vivid description:. One tries to make the partner conform to what is demanded by the projection, and this often leads to great difficulties and misunderstandings in marriage. A man possessed by his anima may become moody, irrational, and prone to outbursts of emotion.

By the end, readers will come away with a nuanced understanding of this complex Jungian concept and insight into how to apply it for personal growth and relational healing. After seeing these introductory connections it, indeed, seemed to me that the relationship between anima and gay men required further investigation.

A man fixated at the Eve stage will relate to women in a primarily sexual, body-based way without appreciating them as full people. The animus, in contrast, represented the archetype of external engagement with the world. He described a parallel animus image in the female psyche.

I attempted to conduct such an investigation through the Jungian analysis of the gay culture in pre- and post-Stonewall periods. He reconceived the anima as the archetype of psychic interiority, regardless of gender. However, most people get stuck at earlier levels, which leads to immaturity in relationships.

In his book The Origins and History of Consciousness, Neumann laid out a developmental model for the anima and animus. Explore how Jung's anima and animus concepts manifest in intimate relationships, including projection, integration, and their role in attraction and conflict.

A common critique is that Jung projected his own limited, patriarchal notions of gender onto the collective unconscious.