Men in Therapy

Abstract

Conventional family therapy models tend to reinforce traditional gender-role socialization in subtle but pernicious ways. A feminist approach to work with men requires therapists to improve their conceptual and perceptual skills by becoming knowledgeable about men's issues and by clarifying personal values concerning the social construction of masculinity. A feminist approach to working with men in families is presented which invites therapists to build a flexible and broad repertoire of skills drawing from several models and to carefully scrutinize interventions for sexist meta-messages. This feminist-informed framework offers therapists working with men considerable room to maneuver within a framework of respect, validation, empowerment, and recognition of the larger social context.