Jungian Theory
If lives are like texts, their meanings are hidden between the lines, cleverly disguised by authors who do not consciously know what they are doing.
In my psychology of personality class on Thursday, we started talking about Carl Jung and his theories of personality. One of them, that I hadn't heard before, was the theory of the animus/anima. This theory basically states that women have a male unconscious (animus) and men have a female unconscious (anima). Not only that, but people are supposedly attracted to the real-life representation of their unconscious which just so happens to be the exact opposite of the personality traits they themselves hold and portray in the real world. For instance, a severely masculine man will have an extremely feminine anima and will thus be attracted the girly females in real life.
However, don't think this strictly applies to how the person acts, as the person one portrays may not be the way they truly are. This theory of his is applies to the personality of the person. So the really masculine male will only be attracted to a female who is truly as girly/feminine as she appears, not simply to one who dresses uber-feminine. I suppose this could also be applied to the personality types he wrote about, but we didn't connect them in class and I've yet to read that far in the book. Anyway, the theory continues that we as people uncover parts of our unconscious - become more individuated - as we get to know this real life representation better.
In class, we somehow got into what an androgynous person would be attracted to. By "androgynous", the girl meant having an amount of both male and female personality traits, regardless if the person is male or female themselves. We generally determined that an androgynous female would be attracted to an androgynous male and vice versa. So I, of course, had to apply this to myself...in my head, obviously.
Now, I suppose I could consider myself fairly androgynous as far as personality traits go. I like some of the more usual female things, certain freeing clothing and book genres immediately coming to mind. But I am also more intensely drawn to some more masculine things, such as sports, career options, wild rock concerts, etc. I was a serious tomboy when I was younger, although this gradually evened out as I grew up a bit without ever truly disappearing. (These are pretty basic examples, but y'all get what I mean.) So this being what it is and fitting Jung's theory, I would be attracted to men who were basically male but who were also interested/drawn to/in touch with more feminine aspects of life. And this I believe!
I like it when guys are comfortable enough in themselves to wear make-up or have wild haircuts or flirt with other guys, even just for kicks. The stereotypical testosterone built sports guy does nothing for me. I like muscles but more fit than overly muscular. And on top of that, I like pretty boys. Which doesn't really fit except it actually does when putting it in the context of someone I don't know personally but who I might, subconsciously, believe holds these traits due to the way they look. This isn't to say I like saps because whoalord I don't! or that I want to be dominate because I'm still very much a submissive, albeit a Badass one. ;) Just that I like guys who are a bit more than the usual "guy" type.
Now, in class I actually came to this conclusion through a fallacy. Read the last two paragraphs in opposite order and you'll see how it worked out in my head originally. However, this doesn't reduce the truth potential or make the whole topic any less interesting.
In my psychology of personality class on Thursday, we started talking about Carl Jung and his theories of personality. One of them, that I hadn't heard before, was the theory of the animus/anima. This theory basically states that women have a male unconscious (animus) and men have a female unconscious (anima). Not only that, but people are supposedly attracted to the real-life representation of their unconscious which just so happens to be the exact opposite of the personality traits they themselves hold and portray in the real world. For instance, a severely masculine man will have an extremely feminine anima and will thus be attracted the girly females in real life.
However, don't think this strictly applies to how the person acts, as the person one portrays may not be the way they truly are. This theory of his is applies to the personality of the person. So the really masculine male will only be attracted to a female who is truly as girly/feminine as she appears, not simply to one who dresses uber-feminine. I suppose this could also be applied to the personality types he wrote about, but we didn't connect them in class and I've yet to read that far in the book. Anyway, the theory continues that we as people uncover parts of our unconscious - become more individuated - as we get to know this real life representation better.
In class, we somehow got into what an androgynous person would be attracted to. By "androgynous", the girl meant having an amount of both male and female personality traits, regardless if the person is male or female themselves. We generally determined that an androgynous female would be attracted to an androgynous male and vice versa. So I, of course, had to apply this to myself...in my head, obviously.
Now, I suppose I could consider myself fairly androgynous as far as personality traits go. I like some of the more usual female things, certain freeing clothing and book genres immediately coming to mind. But I am also more intensely drawn to some more masculine things, such as sports, career options, wild rock concerts, etc. I was a serious tomboy when I was younger, although this gradually evened out as I grew up a bit without ever truly disappearing. (These are pretty basic examples, but y'all get what I mean.) So this being what it is and fitting Jung's theory, I would be attracted to men who were basically male but who were also interested/drawn to/in touch with more feminine aspects of life. And this I believe!
I like it when guys are comfortable enough in themselves to wear make-up or have wild haircuts or flirt with other guys, even just for kicks. The stereotypical testosterone built sports guy does nothing for me. I like muscles but more fit than overly muscular. And on top of that, I like pretty boys. Which doesn't really fit except it actually does when putting it in the context of someone I don't know personally but who I might, subconsciously, believe holds these traits due to the way they look. This isn't to say I like saps because whoalord I don't! or that I want to be dominate because I'm still very much a submissive, albeit a Badass one. ;) Just that I like guys who are a bit more than the usual "guy" type.
Now, in class I actually came to this conclusion through a fallacy. Read the last two paragraphs in opposite order and you'll see how it worked out in my head originally. However, this doesn't reduce the truth potential or make the whole topic any less interesting.