synapticjava: (Default)
synapticjava ([personal profile] synapticjava) wrote2005-03-07 12:28 am

A sidenote as I delve deeper into psychological theory.

The author of my book makes a good point when talking about Gestalt Experiments. The goal is to surface emotions from past events and experience them in the present, and the author mentions that "of course, many men have been socialized not to express intense feelings."

The thing about this is that I absolutely believe it. There are so many people, primarily women (though I don't mean to overgeneralize so please don't be offended) that see a great many men as being cold, unfeeling, and unresponsive to emotional situations. The whole idea that women can talk about their feelings and men can't is a properly grounded one. But why? Because men, and I really speak for myself here - though I believe it can be generalized to a broader population, are conditioned through socialization and ideology to be that way. I myself, in real life and out of the cone of protectiveness that is livejournal, am very closed-mouth and locked-in with my emotions. I'm afraid to reveal emotions, afraid to appear fragile, and I most definetely do not allow myself to be seen as weak or emotionally expressive (other than the big ones, of course). Because this is a large part of gender socialization. Whether we learn it through our parents, teachers, friends, whathaveyou, men and women alike are taught how they are supposed to act. And I never even attributed the emotional detachment of the male gender to this gender bias. Have you?

Something to think about, boys and girls.
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[identity profile] lunabee34.livejournal.com 2005-03-10 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
No, you're absolutely right. He's made a lot of progress and so have I. And we are starting to see a gradual extension of that "safe zone" which is very nice. I had seen a therapist before this when I was single and she was just OUT THERE floating in some kind of New Age patchouli garden. So, I was unfairly a tad skeptical about therapy working. But it really does. I think alot of it depends on who you get though. You have to have a committed therapist whose philosophy you agree with.

Leave the hat on, Brad. It suits you. :) I can hardly leave my grad student hat off long enough to write Spander. Kitty's like, "Okay Lorraine. Neither Spike or Xander is going to examine their relationship in light of Foucauldian constructs of sexuality. Nor are they going to join a bookclub and discuss symbolism in Toni Morrison. Get those boys to a bar, babe"

[identity profile] chocgood84.livejournal.com 2005-03-11 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
Definetely the therapist you get makes a huge difference, and I'm glad its working out for you guys.

At this point, I don't want to wear any hats at all. I really just want to curl up into the fetal position and wait for college to blow over.

nevermind the rantings of a severely broken man
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[identity profile] lunabee34.livejournal.com 2005-03-11 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
You're going to be fine. Deep breaths. Look up something totally tragic on the internet and then entertain the incredibly selfish, yet satisfying thought that it didn't happen to you. *g*