Click on the link for this useful clip of Grayson Perry talking to Jon Snow on the extent to which gender and masculinity are culturally defined for children before they are even born.
We notice at this service the huge disservice our culture does to us all, by encouraging/pressuring boys to suppress their emotional beings and, as Grayson comments, at all costs not be perceived as a ‘sissy’. We also agree with Grayson that there is nothing inherent or immovable about this – it’s cultural conditioning. There is no reason why we cannot raise more boys who remain more connected to their feelings, and able to empathize, nurture and engage in sustaining, nourishing relationship with themselves and with others:-
‘What makes people happy and stable and better for the planet is to have good relationships.’
Yes – person-centred in a nutshell. And too many of us, however we may self-describe in gender terms, are conditioned so that we are not able sufficiently to meet our – personally and socially – fundamental needs for emotional intimacy and connection.
Palace Gate Counselling Service, Exeter
Counselling in Exeter since 1994
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