Gender Differences & Similarities

There is more to the differences among (or rather between) genders than sexual organs. Yet, "since human biology appears to be the same today as it was in Greek times, so also the unconscious psychological dynamic of the human personality is similar" (Johnson 1989 ix). To prove his point of view, the author dips into myths. Basically, he distinguishes between Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, and her replacement, in a sense the younger and human generation, Psyche. The author seems to be attempting to explain that every woman has an Aphrodite complex, feeling herself both loved and loving, but in the end resentful when someone younger and more beautiful comes along. Psyche, of course, as the author points out, has a task "to relate and soften the giant oceanic, archetypal feminine" (Johnson 1989 3).

In an attempt to make this epitome of femininity more "approachable" and, therefore, more humanly "lovable" one might therefore feel that masculinity is the exact opposite of this Aphrodite complex of the female gender. But, no, Johnson ascribes six "feminine" elements in a male: "His human motheraHis mother complexaHis mother archetypeaHis fair maidenaHis wife or partnera(and) Sophiaathe feminine side of God" (Johnson 1989 49-50). As the author points out, it comes as a shock to a Man to realize that wisdom is regarded as feminine, but it has been portrayed that way throughout history- real as well as mythological (p 50).

In trying to decipher the differenc

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hem. Then, the female needs to sort them out, be selective, and reproduce. Parsifal, however, in his naivete or innocence, operates on his own single level, failing to attain that "magic" for more than a short time span. The female, again as personified by Psyche and her relationship with Eros, seems to operate on a number of levels. "All of her struggles are to reconcile the many levels which play upon her." (Johnson 1989 78) It may be safe to assume that Johnson's myths about Psyche and Eros are really about the feminine and masculine sides of one person- Psyche being the dominant, feminine, side. A casual reading of the stories of Parsifal and Psyche makes one wonder whether the author intends to make the female a far more complex, even put-upon creature, than the male. One must turn to a statement by Carl Jung: "every judgment made by an individual is conditioned by his personality typea" (Segaller 1989 102) His is also a theory about the " geology of a personalityaindividuals coming out of a common levela" (Noll 1994 100) Again, in reverting to the myths and parables of Johnson, this idea of a series of levels fits in nicely with his Psyche analogy. Johnson does refer to the man's extroversion and introversio

Category: Psychology - G