Gender Role Journey Theory, Therapy, & Contexts

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This file provides theory, research, and definitions of the gender role journey including gender role transitions, schemas, and transformations. A developmental model of masculinity is presented and gender role transitions and schemas are defined. The developmental tasks and crises in psychosocial theory (Newman & Newman, 2017) are discussed in the context gender role transitions and distorted gender role schemas.

The gender role deconstruction process is defined as part of the gender role journey as well as the 6 dynamics of the gender role transformation process.

The published research on the Gender Role Journey Measure (GRJM) is also listed in this file.

Additionally, gender role journey therapy principles are presented and client’s symptoms and dynamics in each gender role journey phase are discussed. Specific therapeutic strategies to resolve GRC patterns (SPC, RE, RABBM, CBWFR) are enumerated.

The gender role journey concept has been used in a workshop format and academic classes. The gender role journey workshop offered from 1984-2006 is described as one example of how to help adults with their GRC.

Three video presentations on the gender role journey are in this file. One of the videos defines the gender role journey concepts and how I use them in my classes and workshops. Two other video presentations summarize famous personalities’ gender role journeys (Marilyn Monroe & Frank Sinatra). These videos demonstrate show how the gender role journey metaphor can be used to understand people’s GRC and transitions.

Click each topic below to expand

O'Neil, J. M. & Roberts Carroll, M. (1988). A gender role workshop focused on sexism, gender role conflict, and the gender role journey. Journal of Counseling and Development, 67, 193-197.

O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men and women's gender role journeys: A metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B. Wainrib (Ed.) Gender issues across the life cycle. New York: Springer Publishing Co.

O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's gender role transitions over the lifespan: Transformation and fears of femininity. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 14, 306-324.

O'Neil, J.M. (1995). The gender role journey workshop: Exploring sexism and gender role conflict in a coeducational setting (Ed.). Men in Groups: Insights, interventions, psychoeducational work. Washington, D.C.: APA Books

O’Neil, J.M. (2015). New contextual paradigms for gender role conflict: Theory, research, and practice. In J.M. O’Neil, Men’s gender role conflict: Psychological costs, consequences, and an agenda for change, pp 41-77. Washington, D.C. APA Books.

O’Neil, J.M. (2015) My personal gender role journey with the gender role conflict research program. In J.M. O’Neil, Men’s gender role conflict: Psychological costs, consequences, and an agenda for change, pp 29-38. Washington, D.C. APA Books.

Burns, L.R. (2017). The impact of emerging adulthood life events on men’s gender role journey (Doctoral dissertation, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology). Dissertation Abstracts International, 978-13390546346, 2016, 477717-110.

O'Neil, J. M., Egan, J., Owen, S.V., & Murry, V.M. (1993). The gender role journey measure (JRJM): Scale development and psychometric evaluations. Sex Roles, 28, 167-185.

Goldberg, J. & O’Neil, J.M. (1997). Marilyn Monroe’s gender role journey: Promoting women’s development. Journal of College Student Development, 38, 543-545.

Grandi, L., Minton, S., May, J., Tipton, K. (2003). UK men’s experience of the gender role journey and implications for clinicians and mental health services. Psychology of Men and Masculinities.

McDermott, R.C. & Schwartz, J. (2013). Toward a better understanding of emerging adult men's gender role journeys: Differences in age, education, race, relationship status, and sexual orientation. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 14, 202-210.

McDermott. R.C., Schwartz, J.P., Trevathan-Minnis, M. (2012). Predicting men's anger management: Relationship with gender role journey and entitlement. Psychology of Men and Masculinity 13, 49-64.

Mock, J.F. (1995). Influence of gender role journey and balance of power in the marital relationship, on the emotional and spiritual well-being of mid-life married women. Dissertation Abstracts International, 56 (5), 9531244.

O’Neil, J.M. (2000) Review of the Gender Role Journey Measure (GRJM). In J. Maltby, C. Lewis, & A. Hill (Eds.) Commissioned reviews of 250 psychological tests. Credigion, Wales: The Edwin Mellon Press.

O’Neil, J.M. (2015) Gender role journey therapy with men. In J.M. O’Neil, Men’s gender role conflict: Psychological costs, consequences, and an agenda for change, pp 227-248. Washington, D.C. APA Books.

Acceptance of Traditional Gender Roles Attitudes and Beliefs

In this phase of the gender role journal the man endorses traditional gender role stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. There are male and female roles based on biological imperatives or some other essentialist value system. Men should be in charge at work and in the home and women should provide the primary child care. Men should be strong and not show weakness and women should be more passive and not assertive. There is limited awareness of how sexism can hurt people, a belief that feminist have caused problems between men and women, and no interest in doing anything about sexism and discrimination.

Gender Role Ambivalence, Confusion, Anger and Fear

This phase of the gender role journey the person is confused about gender role stereotypes has some fear about the journeying with them. There is vacillation between accepting the stereotypes and recognizing they negatively restrict people in relationships. There is fear about questioning or changing gender role stereotypes and the persona needs help with the process. There is anger about sexism but it is not clear why this emotion exists and doesn’t know what to do about. There may be limited outlets for their anger. The more they express their anger about sexism the more conflict they have. Some people in this stage have intense anger because they know that they and others have been victims sexism and restrictive gender role socialization. Anger is pivotal in moving from dysfunctional phase to a functional phase of the journey. Some people believe that staying angry or getting stuck in your anger is counterproductive. Some conclude that the stereotypes are insufficient to build a human identity. Only when anger becomes great is there willingness to take risks of challenging the status quo.

Personal and Professional Activism

Activism mean changing oneself by integrating the anger and by making commitments to reduce sexism in one’s own life. Activism begins when talking does not work and action is perceived to be a better course to pursue. In this phase the person attempts to live free from restrictive gender role stereotypes and feels an inner strength and power based on rejecting restrictive gender roles and sexism. Their anger, pain, and emotions are used to reduce sexism and raise other people’s consciousness through teaching and other activist agendas. There is the strong believe that they are responsible for reducing sexism and that something can be done to prevent it through activism. Increased self-communication is required to remain in the activism stage. There is greater compassion for self and other people’s gender role journeys.

_{From: O’Neil, J.M. (2015). The contextual paradigms for gender role conflict: Theory, research, and practice. In J.M. O’Neil, Men’s gender role conflict: Psychological costs, consequences, and an agenda for change, pp 41-77. Washington, D.C. APA Books.}

1	The three phases of the gender role journey phases can be used as a therapeutic framework to do therapy with men. Clients need to be assessed on which phase of the gender role journey they most closely approximate and their readiness and motivation for change. Clients can be invited or encouraged to take the gender role journey by asking them if they are open to evaluate how restrictive gender roles, sexism, other oppressions have affected them.
2	The three phases of the gender role journey parallel the stages of change in therapy (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance) and relate to the context of client’s problems and the factors that maintain problems and constrain change (Prochaska and Norcross, 2010; Brooks, 2010). Phase 1 and 2 of the gender role journey are considered to be unhealthy or at least unsettled phases of the gender role journey and reinforce masculine specific conflicts and other problems in men’ lives.
3	The gender role journey can be a way of helping men discover their masculine specific conflicts and emotional wounds experienced as gender role devaluations, restrictions, and violations. Facilitating a client’s gender role journey allows for deepening of the therapy (Rabinowitz and Cochran, 2002) and prompt gender role transitions. The gender role journey serves as a possible portal to men’s problems in therapy. In this regard, the gender role journey and GRC become a “….. a way to organize the thematic elements in the male client’s narrative as well as an entry or key to the deeper, emotional elements of images, words, thematic elements of the client’s inner psychological life (Rabinowitz& Cochran, 2002, p.26).
4	Providing clients macro-societal and diversity contexts to their gender role journey can help them discern how sexism and other oppressions have contributed to their psychological problems including internalized oppression. Deconstructing masculine and feminine gender roles and stereotypes is the primary way to experience the gender role journey and help men resolve their GRC. Therapists have options when facilitating the gender role journey by using interviewing, consciousness raising, psychoeducation, bibliotherapy, and use of masculinity measures. Psychosocial assessment of the clients’ development, their gender role transitions, and distorted gender role schemas can facilitate the gender role journey.
5	GRC is a multifaceted dynamic for both clients and the therapists and needs to be monitored during therapy for positive therapy outcomes. Clients’ GRC (SPC, RE, RABBM, CBWFR) can be a defenses that hide the portal and the masculine specific conflicts and inhibit movement through the gender role journey phases and the levels and processes of therapeutic change (Prochaska and Norcross, 2010; Brooks, 2010). Psychological defenses may need to be assessed and worked with during the gender role journey. Assessing a man’s masculinity ideology, patterns of GRC, and distorted gender role schemas is critical during therapy. Helping clients transition from one phase of the gender role journey to another by assessing and resolving the patterns of GRC (SPC, RE, RABBM, CBWFR) can increase the deepening during the therapeutic process. Assessing how the man devalues, restricts, and violate himself and others is key to finding the portal and resolving the GRC. Healing from gender role devaluations, restrictions, and violations requires insights assertiveness, self-efficacy, risk taking, and personal and professional activism.
6	Normalizing human vulnerability, wounds, and pain is critical to facilitating the gender role journey. Contextually, GRC may be a man’s wound, may conceal a man’s wounds, and may be a vehicle to discovering a man’s wounds. The critical issue of transitioning men from one stage of change to another through the phases of the gender role journey occurs best with the resolution of the RE, SPC, homophobia, and control issues.
_{From: O’Neil, J.M. (2015) Gender role journey therapy with men. In J.M. O’Neil, Men’s gender role conflict: Psychological costs, consequences, and an agenda for change, pp 227-248. Washington, D.C. APA Books.}

Pattern	Strategies
SPC (Success, Power, and Competition)	Recognize difference between power-control over others, sharing power, and empowering others category of power Accepting the lack of control in certain situations and being comfortable and confident with letting of control “if necessary” Redefining success outside the capitalist and economic realms; humanizing success Discussing new ways to validate ourselves rather than through winning and competing against ourselves Redefine losing not as a failure as a man Engage non-competitive activities
RE (Restrictive Emotionality)	Teach emotional vocabulary Read about emotional intelligence Discuss advantages of a fluid emotional life Project the cost of emotional restriction over 10 year period Analyze emotional charged scripts Keep an emotional diary, log, or journal Redefine emotional in human terms Role play feelings Perl’s empty chair ‘talking to your feelings” Analyze family members, peers, and colleagues’ emotional capacity
RABBM (Restrictive and Affectionate Behavior Between Men)	Defining and understanding homophobia and heterosexism Understanding how homophobia and heterosexism separates and restricts men Differentiating sexual issues from human intimacy and affection Exploring body awareness Practicing giving men compliments and receiving them Understanding body mind splits Practicing self-disclosure with other men
CBWFR (Conflict Between Work and Family Relations)	Redefine success at work and in the home Learn time management skills Show self-compassion for work/family stressor Prioritize and plan more Take turns with spouse Learn stress management Lower criteria for success at work and home based on situation and contingencies
_{*Table 4 refers to title in the referenced paper (below). There is not a drop down missing}

From: O’Neil, J.M. (2015) Gender role journey therapy with men. In J.M. O’Neil, Men’s gender role conflict: Psychological costs, consequences, and an agenda for change, pp 227-248. Washington, D.C. APA Books.

Finally, the gender role journey class/workshop curriculum can be reviewed by clicking on the last file of this web page: Videos Resources and Additional Information. There are videos lectures on the following topics:

Psychoeducation,
Twenty-four Considerations for EPSY 6304,
Gender Role Journey,
Psychological Violence,
Men’s Violence Against Women,
Human Vulnerability,
Understanding Your Emotions,
Healing, & the Wounded Person Cycle,
Working with Emotional Pain, Working With Emotional pain (audio – Convention Presentation),
Forgiveness,
Dealing With Loss,
Marilyn Monroe’s Gender Role Journey,
Frank Sinatra’s Gender Role Journey,
My Gender Role Journey-Part 1,
Positive Healthy Masculinity,
Metaphors For Healing,
Closure Lecture for EPSY 6304,
Teaching EPSY 6304 at UCONN

Dr. Jim O'Neil

Gender Role Journey Theory, Therapy, & Contexts

Gender Role Journey Theory

Published Research on Gender Role Journey Measure & Construct

Tables on Gender Role Journey Therapy

Table 1 Phases of the Gender Role Journey

Table 2 Principles and Parameters of Gender Role Journey Therapy

Table 4*: Therapeutic Strategies to Resolve Patterns of GRC: SPC, RE, RABBM, and CBWFR

Video Lectures

Gender Role Journey: A Metaphor to Understand the Course and Yourself

Marilyn Monroe’s Gender Role Journey Lecture

Frank Sinatra's Unresolved Psychosocial Problems