Reworking gender archetypes

Peter Hubbard

doi:10.9791/ajpanz.1997.04

Peter Hubbard

DOI: https://doi.org/10.9791/ajpanz.1997.04

Abstract

In terms of difference, the analysis of gender in cultural and psychological thinking has had the benefits of a feminist input for some decades now. How might 'masculist' input into this debate be framed? One strand of the current masculist debate attaches itself to feminist analyses, another polarises around essentialist/constructivist arguments, yet another seeks to establish its own experiential ground.

This paper proposes a reworking of an established psychological hypothesis concerned with masculine and feminine archetypes. In doing so it recognises the inherent duality of gender. It attempts to do this from a masculist standpoint, and as such, to honour both essentialist and constructivist approaches.

In doing so, this paper hopes to suggest a theoretical frame that can be used in working psychotherapeutically with men and with the relationships that men form. This is not only therapeutic, but also political work.

Author Biography

Peter Hubbard

As recorded in 1997.

MA, Dip Psychotherapy London MUKCP, MNZAP. Co-founder and Director of the Institute of Psychosynthesis (NZ) in Auckland. Trained and worked in London before returning to New Zealand in 1986. Psychotherapist and supervisor in private practice. Interested in the psychology of men's issues and the transpersonal contexts of psychotherapeutic practice.