tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post3525134199921104652..comments2024-03-05T05:53:36.239-07:00Comments on The Masculine Heart: Why Men Need to Show Emotionwilliam harrymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-2971022432979703382008-06-09T13:15:00.000-07:002008-06-09T13:15:00.000-07:00Thanks for the comment J,I think that most studies...Thanks for the comment J,<BR/><BR/>I think that most studies exclude those who disclose trauma or abuse histories (clearly not everyone discloses), so I am not sure how much that factors into the issue.<BR/><BR/>Based on other things I have posted here, and in this article as well, there is a huge issue with testosterone shaping emotional skills, but that isn't destiny, only a challenge women don't face to the same degree.<BR/><BR/>Still, I think the social and cultural issues are greater, despite what the article says.<BR/><BR/>But the info you provide is good food for thought.<BR/><BR/>Peace,<BR/>Billwilliam harrymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-86962313262337067892008-06-09T13:11:00.000-07:002008-06-09T13:11:00.000-07:00Anon (#2), Thanks for the thoughtful and detailed ...Anon (#2), <BR/><BR/>Thanks for the thoughtful and detailed comment. I appreciate the information.<BR/><BR/>For what it's worth, I had doubts about the alexithymia part of this article. I think what <I>Men's Health</I> was aiming for was a normalization of male stoicism, so they included that questionable research.<BR/><BR/>I personally believe that men can become emotionally literate -- that we are not inherently lacking in this skill. But we have to make the effort, which is the point of this blog.<BR/><BR/>I hope to read more of your comments here.<BR/><BR/>Peace,<BR/>Billwilliam harrymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06981478282688361274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-23026890265777137912008-06-07T16:54:00.000-07:002008-06-07T16:54:00.000-07:00Unfortunately the above article drawing any link w...Unfortunately the above article drawing any link with maleness and alexithymia is completely false- another example of popular male bashing. Below is an article showing how Levant got it *very* wrong: <BR/><BR/>This recent misuse of the alexithymia concept by Harvard University professor Dr. Ron Levant shows how easily the alexithymia construct can be misunderstood as a stoic resistance, repression, or denial of emotions. Levant devised the phrase "normative male alexithymia" to describe how North American males suffer to some degree from cultural conditioning which causes men to repress their vulnerable and caring emotions causing them to become underdeveloped in emotional expressiveness. He says, "Many men were raised (and continue to be raised) to function in a world that no longer exists. To be good men, they were told, they must become reliable providers, emotionally stoic, logical, solution oriented, and aggressive." [Levant. Men and Emotions (1997) p.3]<BR/><BR/>Levant further states the problem this way: "I believe that a mild form of alexithymia is very wide-spread among adult men and that it results from the male emotional socialization ordeal, which requires boys to restrict the expression of their vulnerable and caring emotions and to be emotionally stoic." [Levant- A New Psychology of Men, (1995) p.239].<BR/><BR/>Levant states that according to his clinical observation this type of problem is so common for men in our culture that it may be called "normative". He claims; "One of the most far-reaching consequences of male gender-role socialization is the high incidence among men of... the inability to identify and describe one's feelings." [p.238] and "men are genuinely unaware of their emotions. Lacking this emotional awareness, when asked to identify their feelings, they tend to rely on their cognition to try to logically deduce how they should feel. They cannot do what is automatic for most women -simply sense inwardly, feel the feeling, and let the verbal description come to mind." [p.239].<BR/><BR/>While Levant may be right in his claim that men are (generally) less skilled than women in their ability to describe feelings, he is demonstrably incorrect in claiming that men are less able to identify specific feeling states in self or others in the true clinical sense of alexithymia: i.e. *difficulty identifying feelings*. Here it would seem that Levant has failed to discriminate between the separate factors of (1) identifying and (2) describing feelings.<BR/><BR/>According to College of New Jersey psychologist Mark Kiselica, past president of the American Psychological Association's Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, most men are not alexithymic: “it is not a 'norm'”. Kiselica reports that a literature review showed only a few studies have reported that males have slightly higher rates of developing the disorder, while the majority of studies found no differences between the genders, with overall about one in 10 people of either gender showing any significant level of alexithymia.<BR/><BR/>True, men have not been educated or encouraged to express their feelings verbally but they most certainly can, generally speaking, identify both their own feelings and those of others as well as do women. From earliest childhood most cultures encourage males to be emotionally stoic, a disposition which may, as Levant stresses, lend itself to pathologies of emotional expression. But to emphasize the potential pathologies of this disposition tells us only a small negative part of the story. The stoic disposition also includes time honored traits of forbearance, tolerance, and healthy emotional control in stressful situations. To champion emotional extroversion or cite verbal skill in expressing feelings does not guarantee healthy emotional interaction with others, as in the example of ‘con-artists’ or ‘manipulators’ who misuse the language of emotional expressiveness to exploit or domineer others.<BR/><BR/>Levant's conjectures reveal the twin errors of both genderising alexithymia, and confusing it with general categories of stoic reticence or repression of emotions.<BR/><BR/>In the final analysis this superficial conflation of alexithymia with ‘maleness’ may reflect the influences of contemporary gender stereotyping more than it does the findings of rigorous scientific method. It also leaves us with the unfortunate consequence of confusing the accepted clinical meaning of the term alexithymia as proposed by all leading clinicians for the last 30 years. In light of these anomalies, and considering that Dr. Levant refers again and again to the stoic nature of the males in question, perhaps he would consider a late name change to 'Normative Male Stoicism'?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7372876601826078687.post-15939799498295660552008-06-07T10:10:00.000-07:002008-06-07T10:10:00.000-07:00That is a great article, thanks for posting it. Ho...That is a great article, thanks for posting it. However, to say that men ONLY use their left hemisphere for language seems inaccurate. There is just less communication between the right & left sides, so emotional info isn't able to be put into words. What is also interesting is that trauma shrinks the corpus callosum, and many trauma patients are alexithymic. However, children growing up in abusive homes are often better able to pick up on the emotions and intent of others, it is a survival mechanism. The amygdala also gets bigger in trauma, thus the fear response. Given the amount of child abuse in this culture, I wonder how this impacts the outcome and conclusions of these studies, if at all? Perhaps it also explains some of the differences I see in trauma between men and women.<BR/><BR/>Just things I wondered about as I was reading.<BR/><BR/>JAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com