Gynophobia: what is this problem and how to deal with it?

Social fears are varied. Someone is afraid to speak in public, someone is afraid of being caught in a dense crowd at rush hour on the subway or at a rally, but there are so-called gender fears, the main object of which is characterized by gender. These include gynophobia - a panic fear of women.

Gynophobia or gynecophobia - irrational, pathological fear of women... Most often, a mental disorder occurs in men, less often in women who are afraid of their own kind. Despite the seeming strangeness and even absurdity of this phobic disorder, fear of a woman or a girl is quite common among modern men. This phobia is called social because it somehow limits a person in his contacts and interaction with society. The nature of this phobia can be very destructive, because in one way or another it determines a person's behavior.

Do not confuse gynophobes and men who are simply wary of women. If something happened in a person's life that formed an unkind, unreliable attitude towards the fair sex, this does not mean that he has a mental disorder. True gynophobia consists in attacks of uncontrollable fear at the sight of women or a certain type of them (only redheads, only pregnant women, only the elderly, only beauties of model appearance, etc.). In a mild form, a phobia can manifest itself in a squeamish and dismissive attitude. Serious gynophobia is the occurrence of panic attacks, inappropriate behavior of a person when meeting with the object of his fear.

In severe cases, the gynophobe generally refuses to contact women, closes at home, does not go out into the street, so as not to accidentally meet women there, he condemns himself to loneliness, never daring to start a family.

Gynophobia is a rather capacious and broad concept in which psychiatrists usually include several specific forms that a mental disorder can take. In its pure form, gynecophobia is not so common., usually the area of ​​fear does not extend to all, without exception, the fair sex, but concerns only certain women.

• Gravidophobia - Irrational fear of women "in position". Pregnant women can strike terror not only in men, but also in women. Usually, such fear is of a traumatic nature, for example, a woman has a dead child, after which, against the background of a strong shock, gravidophobia may develop. In men from the category of "old bachelor" gravidophobia is especially difficult. One type of mom-to-be can cause a severe anxiety attack. Other women do not cause negative reactions from gravidophobes.
• Venustraphobia - panic fear of beautiful women. It occurs more often in men, but it can also develop in women. Usually, the reasons lie in the negative experience of communicating with a beauty in adolescence. A phobia inherent in men and women with low self-esteem. The former are sure that they do not deserve to be loved by beautiful ladies, the latter believe that they look ugly against the background of beauties.
• Parthenophobia - pathological fear of virgins. Mostly male. It manifests itself as a variant of sexual behavior disorder. Correction is difficult.
• Cacomorphobia - fear of overweight, fat, obese women. It can develop equally in both women and men. The reasons most often lie in the negative experience of interaction with such ladies. But women also have a specific reason - the fear of gaining weight, becoming the fattest, and then such women will cause the strongest anxiety on a subconscious level.

Quite often, cases of gynophobia are outside the classification. Many gynophobic men suffer from fear of strong and independent women, and enterprising business women instill in them a real horror. Sometimes fear is formed by several signs at once, for example, a person is afraid of fat red-haired women or only fat brunettes, the rest of the plump persons do not cause a negative reaction in him.

Male fear always has more serious consequences and more severe symptoms. The female often runs latently. But anyway building relationships with women and both can be difficult.

Very often, the reason for the fear of women in a man or woman lies in the distant past, so distant that on a conscious level he himself does not remember what childhood events influenced him so much. This is a deep subconscious fear, which can only be brought out by contacting a psychotherapist-hypnologist.

Often, even in adolescence, guys develop pronounced gynophobia due to the fact that in childhood his own mother was despotic, authoritarian, beat, humiliated, punished the child. At the same time, an image is usually fixed in the subconscious - either it is a fat woman or a brunette. Key characteristics become fear characteristics. An overly strong-willed mother, who always decided everything for her son, suppressed his undertakings, imposed her vision of life on him, can also cause the development of a pathological fear of women, especially strong, independent ones.

Boys can be impressed by the behavior of the mother towards the father. If a woman humiliated, beat, mocked her husband in front of the child, then fear involuntarily settles in the soul and only progresses over time. A hostile attitude towards women, which over time turns into a phobic disorder, can develop in a child when watching pornography in childhood, watching how parents have sex, when adult women act depraved in relation to a teenager or boy who has not reached puberty.

Parents should be more careful when choosing a nanny, a kindergarten teacher, and the first teacher for their child. Early age is the most "impressionable", and a plump, unkempt woman who smells bad, offends the baby, yells at him, raises her hand to him, may well become his nightmare in childhood, and then a phobia towards women of a certain type or all women without exception.

The first sexual experience is another reason why gynophobia develops. It is not always successful, often the image of a woman is closely associated with humiliation, a feeling of burning shame, and the ridicule of a partner. Upbringing (including nationality, religion, folk traditions) also decides a lot. If it is customary for representatives of a particular people to disrespect, not appreciate women, and be cruel, then it is more likely that a squeamish gynophobia will form.

Sex during pregnancy is not supported by all religions, which is why many men consider it unnatural. In the case of gynophobes, fear arises from the same beliefs, but becomes overgrown with additional strong emotions that force such a person to cross to the other side of the street if the expectant mother suddenly moves towards him.

Signs of a mental disorder are quite typical, and with close observation it will not be difficult to recognize the true gynophobe. Men with such fear, depending on its type and degree, can be loners and misogynists. In a mild form, this is a squeamish attitude, a feeling of anxiety at the sight of a woman unpleasant for a gynophobe. If a red-haired woman, of which he is afraid, enters the store, then the man immediately leaves the mall without making the necessary purchase for which he came.

A gynophobic man does not go for rapprochement with the fair sex. At the same time, his intimate life often suffers, he prefers self-satisfaction. In severe cases, he changes his sexual orientation, being convinced that he was born gay. And only a deep psychological analysis shows that in fact a man is heterosexual, just suffers from gynophobia.

Severe cases of gynophobia are manifested by inappropriate behavior, obsessive thoughts, compulsive disorder. For example, a man immediately leaves the room if a woman appears in it, or rushes to urgently wash his hands if he touched the handrail, which was previously held by a lady of his frightening type.

Fear causes an attack of nausea, disgust, a feeling of constriction in the region of the heart. The gynophobe loses control over himself. He can run or, conversely, become numb and stand like an idol, unable to move.

After an attack, there is a feeling of one's own inferiority, emptiness, and disappointment. The gynophobe is ashamed, but he cannot by an effort of will avoid a second attack, and therefore tries to avoid frightening situations altogether.So people refuse to marry, from sex with women, from having children, and in severe cases from work (there are women in the team!), From study, from going out.

The danger of male gynophobia lies in the fact that with the progression of the disorder, it can be aggravated by additional mental disorders... If a manic violation joins, then it is possible that one day a man decides to fulfill “the mission of his whole life - to rid the world of red-haired or beautiful women” (depending on who is afraid). This is how violent serial killer maniacs sometimes form.

Women with gynophobia do not have girlfriends, in any case, girlfriends of a frightening type. They usually choose male professions, work in a male team, make friends with men and very soon begin to resemble men themselves. Subconsciously, a woman begins to deny the feminine and in herself, which is fraught with infertility, loneliness, schizophrenia.

Gynophobia is not a psychological problem, but a mental disorder, and therefore attempts to self-medicate or attend coaching sessions in order to quickly overcome fear on their own will not bring results. Treatment is carried out by psychotherapists or psychiatrists. In every case it is necessary to identify the reasons for the fear, after which the person will have a long course of psychotherapy.