tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post7597900735824337789..comments2024-03-26T16:19:11.382-07:00Comments on Crossdreamers: Waking Up the Anima – Jung Applied to Transgender WomenSally Molayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02015510914816971645noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-19396737143457782942018-07-30T03:31:30.733-07:002018-07-30T03:31:30.733-07:00The link to this post is currently on page 40 on C...The link to this post is currently on page 40 on CDL, the last page before threads drop off the easily navigable area of the forum. I like to look at page 40 now and then to see what was happening in the past.<br /><br />Trying to understand this picture of the human psyche, the analogy I am picturing in my mind is that of a porous tank of liquid, through which the experiences of life pass by, and in that tank are various seeds of crystallization that are predisposed to seek out and collect experiences that fit certain patterns, and to build a component of awareness around that nucleus. So then 'anima' and 'animus' refer to nuclei of crystallization for experiences pertaining to what it means to be female and male, respectively. And rather than identify the ego with one or the other, perhaps better to say that yet another nucleus of crystallization collects experiences pertaining to understanding of the self, and that this includes the experience of having an anima/animus, linking them much like function calls and pointers in a computer program.<br /><br />Is that a fair paraphrase? I can see how that might be a useful analogy, though anything much beyond that is a bit too radical a paradigm for me to take in at present.Adrian Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06469026342375625260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-17530328127013909682017-03-28T02:01:30.976-07:002017-03-28T02:01:30.976-07:00Interesting! I am sure you are right about modern...Interesting! I am sure you are right about modern Western culture associating being "active" with being male to the point where "passive" masculinity becomes harder to imagine. But there are relevant role models in philosophy, art, programming and more, which allows for a more "passive" or introverted and non-aggressive male role.<br /><br />The active female principle is becoming more and more accepted day by day, in spite of recent cultural setbacks, so there are role models on that side to.<br /><br />The question is: Are some people raised in an environment where these role models are looked down upon (the hyper-masculinity of rural US and Russia, comes to mind) and are they more likely to become transgender? I am not sure that this is the case. Jack Molayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03629363646482611722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-8683597677623102142017-03-27T09:37:50.910-07:002017-03-27T09:37:50.910-07:00I think things are a bit more complex than present...I think things are a bit more complex than presented. Each gender principal has Active and Passive side. So, the Animus has both an active and passive nature where in most cisgender males the ego associates with the Active Male half of the Animus. In cisgender females, the Ego usually associates with the Passive Female half of the Anima. However, if the Ego associates with the Passive Male side of the Animus, this is counter to societal pressure as western society doesn’t recognize the Passive Male identity. Unable to express itself as Passive Male the Ego slips to the Passive Female identity as the strongest compatible model. The same thing can happen with an Ego that associates with the Active Female principal where denied by society, it will slip to the Active Male identity as the closest compatible match. That’s a theory anyway—your mileage may vary.Kim Welchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17988167433953302883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-6197967720423574792017-02-20T02:32:43.562-08:002017-02-20T02:32:43.562-08:00@Katherine
It scares me to see how many people ne...@Katherine<br /><br />It scares me to see how many people never come to feel their true selves, because their fear of social ostracism stops them from even looking. <br /><br />It is said that the most common regret people have on their death beds is that they did not do more of what they like and what they are, instead of constantly trying to please others.Jack Molayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03629363646482611722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-86071667436215582542017-02-19T15:22:16.334-08:002017-02-19T15:22:16.334-08:00Gender roles give a sense of security through conf...Gender roles give a sense of security through conformity. We are born into this and for everything we gain, we lose something.<br /><br />To move from yin toward yang or anima toward animus requires stepping out of ones comfort zone and embracing risk. <br /><br />For those who have had inauthenticity thrust upon them, it is the only way to find authenticity.<br /><br />It is in the end searching for the authentic and whole self in a world made up of fractured people.Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08165549093691663218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-79491740937563247052017-02-12T23:44:47.150-08:002017-02-12T23:44:47.150-08:00I like the checkerboard simile. I wonder if this d...I like the checkerboard simile. I wonder if this does not apply to cisgender straight people as well, to some degree. Masculine and feminine aren't always clear cut dichotomies. A woman may dress "masculine", but nevertheless also appear feminine. A man may look hypermasculine, but may have a gentle and compassionate soul. When people meet they may sense this complexity, and attraction may be based on a wide variety of opposites.<br /><br />There is a tendency among Jungians post-Jung to associate the anima and the animus with gender stereotypes. Jung argued that an archetype is never defined by its content, but rather by its function. I wonder if that function may also be to trigger people to orient themselves as gendered beings, regardless of what defines the masculine and the feminine.Jack Molayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03629363646482611722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-3613336199905942072017-02-12T08:50:12.991-08:002017-02-12T08:50:12.991-08:00Lately I've been visualizing masculine and fem...Lately I've been visualizing masculine and feminine forces as a yin-yang. So, each needs the other to be whole and has a piece of the other in itself. Those who have embodied and expressed their masculine side (yang) will seek a female partner in whom to project the feminine side of themselves (yin) and thus become whole. Transgender women who are NOT attracted to women already have their yin internalized, so their aim is to find a yang (masculine figure). Trans women who ARE attracted to women are so attracted because they are accessing their own yin vis-a-vis other women (through projection). Which is very similar to what a straight cisgender man does. To explain homosexuality outside of the transgender context, I would distort the yin-yang figure so that the yin and yang are more evenly distributed on each side (like a checkerboard with only 4 squares). So each partner in the relationship "yins" the other's yang. This would explain why gay men tend to have certain effeminate qualities, and gay women tend to exhibit certain masculine behavioral patterns. This also helps honor the old cliche that a person's partner "completes" them. Nonbinary identities may be understood as unusually even mixtures of yin and yang, with each side at least partially reconciled with the ego. I think nonbinary people may actually be gifted, because the equal strengths of their yin and yang have allowed them to quickly identify both sides with the self, rather than projecting onto others and slowly climbing up Jung's ladder of individuation, like most people must. Jocelyn Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14753185283708920038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-84536583717405610902017-02-11T11:01:56.008-08:002017-02-11T11:01:56.008-08:00This blog post is also discussed over at Crossdrea...This blog post is also discussed <a href="http://crossdreamlife.lefora.com/topic/846/Waking-Up-the-Anima-Jung-Applied-to-Transgender-Women#.WJ9fSBIrJE4" rel="nofollow">over at Crossdream Life.</a>Jack Molayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03629363646482611722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2472400923228993687.post-38871757609877683512017-02-11T02:40:16.304-08:002017-02-11T02:40:16.304-08:00Thank you so much for sharing this, Jocelyn!
I t...Thank you so much for sharing this, Jocelyn! <br /><br />I think this observation is key: "Meanwhile, the autogynephilic transsexual gripped and embodied her animus, projecting her true self (her anima) on the women around her." I think this approach is much more to the point than Blanchard's theory, which basically says that the "autogynephile" projects the women out there onto "his" inner soul.<br /><br />But why is it, do you think, that those transgender kids who will come to love men are more likely to be able to embody their female side so early? And why would the gynephilic ones be more likely to suppress this side of them?<br /><br />And one more thing: Since you start with Jung's two-polar dynamics of gender identity and gender expression, you end up in a pretty binary understanding of gender. Do you think that there could be intermediary, non-binary, ways of combing the anima and animus in real life?Jack Molayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03629363646482611722noreply@blogger.com