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Fear of men

Guest_5809
Community Member

As crazy as it might sound. I fear males. I have since I was in late primary or early high school. I have a huge blank in my childhood I don't understand. I am petrified of talking to walking towards a relationship with men. Even writing this creates major anxiety. Today I told a male mental health clinician about my fear. It makes me sick to my stomach that I have let this information out. I can't stop trembling and feeling sick.   I hate feeling like this 

9 Replies 9

white knight
Community Champion
Community Champion

Hi D,

From how you described your fear my thoughts are that we cant do much to help you with this. It appears to me (and I'm not qualified) that you need some psych treatment to get to the root of the cause of your fear.

Chat to your GP and continue with any treatment. Pursue it because it will shape your future.

Vegetarian Marshmallow
Community Member
Hmm, I don't know about that.  I think there are still useful things you can do without knowing the cause of a problem.  If I walk into the kitchen, and there are a dozen eggs smashed on the floor, I don't have to go on a big decade-long mystery-solving adventure to find out if it was my roommate John who put them there as a prank, or my friend Jacob accidentally dropped them and forgot to tell me, or a chicken came into the house one day and laid them, or a crane lifted my roof off and dropped them in and then put the roof back on.  However they got there, I can just clean them up and then I'll be able to make better use of my egg-free kitchen floor.

You should feel proud that you were courageous enough to tell someone.

Some counselling definitely sounds like a good idea.  Perhaps at this stage, you might want to ask the male clinician to refer you to a female instead.

For the short term, when you feel anxious, you can try breathing exercises, meditation, and other anxiety coping techniques from Google.

Maybe you should try some male-watching.  Just go out in public and spy on some males doing stuff and interacting with others.  It might help quell your fears.  Maybe even try to notice some pleasant things about them, like a charming walking style, a joke they made, or a nice thing they said or did.  And try to notice these good things in your own interactions with males, as well.

geoff
Champion Alumni
Champion Alumni

dear D, do you mind if males reply back to you.

What I would do is to do as Odin Beard has said and try and find a female psychologist who handles with CBT, and with this is to ask her to try 'desensitization', because what you have is called 'androphobia' which is a fear of men, so please google both of these names.

Desensitization is a great way to overcome any phobia, and at the moment it's certainly not appropriate for me to ask why this happened. Geoff.

Guest_5809
Community Member

Thank you for your advice. I thought telling a male clinician I feel comfortable with is a forward step. I have seen female therapists over the years and haven't been able to blurt it out at all. I have known for sometime that I have theses feelings and thoughts of males. I am glad it us out there now. I just don't no how to proceed with it further. I feel like telling him to just forget I said it but I know logically in my brain that will continue to keep me paralysed. It's hard I always run when it gets too hard to deal with I am frightened of it happening again

You could try writing stuff down to show to him, or try closing your eyes and lying down while telling him.  Maybe boost your confidence before seeing him by dancing around to some Disney music.  Anything to make yourself more comfortable.  Apparently, Buckethead (a guitarist) recorded his guitar parts inside a chicken coop in the studio, while he was in Guns N' Roses.

They sound like some ideas it can do. I am one of these people who does my best talking in the dark, as weird as that may sound!  I already feel a little lighter knowing he didn't freak out. Although I am now wondering how to justify my thoughts do I don't sound to crazy! Any one else I wonder have the seem fear. I wonder a lot where it stems from. 

Jaybird27
Community Member

Hi, I just wanted to mention that I have a similar issue. I'm terrified of men, especially when they're angry. This mostly stems from growing up in an abusive family situation. Over the years I learned that men are dangerous. This made me scared to talk to them encase I said something to make them angry. It even got to the point that I couldn't go to work or ring in sick because I knew my male manager was working.

You said that you have a large blank in your childhood? Could it be that something happened then to, if not create, but add to your fear?

Sorry, I don't want to imply anything, but this is from my own experience.

Doc_
Community Member

Hi Jaybird27,

I'm sad to hear that you have come to the conclusion that men are dangerous. I understand it is a product of your circumstances, all people can be dangerous, men and women. The major difference is that where men have historically used physical violence or actions to resolve an issue, whereas women have been known to use verbal techniques, through which both sexes achieve their manipulative goals. Some people are genuinely nice, I personally have several friends at either edge of the spectrum, at times good for perspective, however I know who I would rather hand around with, the people who treat me as I would treat them, as family. 

@Dottibluebell - Awesome to hear that you feel a level of comfort talking to your male nurse, it's a fantastic start, and proof that not all fellas are bad people. There are quite a few of us left that are actually nice, we can be hard to find at times as it is frustrating filtering out people who don't compliment your views on life and sometimes have our shields up but a few kind words and a smile will usually open us up

Physical violence, even a threat or subtle passing mention of it is never acceptable, EVER. It's the principle of the matter, if you care for someone you never need to ever raise a hand in anger, only to wipe away a tear and bring you closer to remind you that everything is going to be ok.

You could do some self-defence classes to make yourself feel more equipped to deal with violence if it ever does happen.  That'll in turn ease your anxiety over it.