Gynophobia orgynephobia (/ˌɡaɪnəˈfoʊbiə/) is amorbid andirrational fear ofwomen, a type ofspecific social phobia.[1] It is found in ancient mythology as well as modern cases. A small number of researchers and authors have attempted to pin down possible causes of gynophobia.
Gynophobia should not generally be confused withmisogyny, the hatred, contempt for and prejudice againstwomen,[2][3] although some may use the terms interchangeably, in reference to the social, rather than pathological aspect of negativeattitudes towards women.[4] Theantonym of misogyny isphilogyny, thelove, respect for andadmiration ofwomen.[5]
Gynophobia is analogous withandrophobia, the extreme and/or irrational fear ofmen. A subset of it is caligynephobia, or the fear of beautiful women.[6]
The termgynophobia comes from theGreek γυνή –gunē, meaning "woman"[7] and φόβος –phobos, "fear".[8] TheOxford English Dictionary cites the term's earliest known use as an 1886 writing by physicianOliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.[9]
Hyponyms of the term "gynophobia" includefeminophobia.[10] Rare or archaic terms include theLatinhorror feminae.[11]
In his bookSadism and Masochism: The Psychology of Hatred and Cruelty,Wilhelm Stekel discusseshorror feminae of a malemasochist.
Callitxe Nzamwita, an elderlyRwandan man who reported a fear of women that had persisted for more than half a century of his life, was interviewed byAfrimax in 2023. He barricaded his house to avoid interactions with women, largely remaining inside for 55 years. He was consequently cited as a possible case of gynophobia by several international media outlets, though he was never formally diagnosed.[12][13][14]
In ancient mythology, the idea of woman as a, "mysterious, magical body-vessel", or "intimidatingGreat Goddess" is common. In these myths, woman (sometimes also depicted as aGreat World Tree, pomegranate, poppyhead, or mountain) bears all living things, and empties them out of herself into the living world. In the "vessel" analogy, the inside of the vessel is unknown, and all body orifices are special zones, each regarded as idols by artistic representation. The historical permanence of woman as body-vessel, is sometimes artistically depicted to elicit fear. For example,Albert Dubout depicted theGreat Goddess as eliciting fear from a short man simply by displaying her large breasts and noting that her breasts survived World War II.[15]
In India, the goddess"Kali the Terrible" is the mother of the world and a fearsome, gruesome, and bloodthirsty destroyer of human life. She partially expresses her destruction through a wide array of female avatars (or "agents"). Kali's avatars and agents are regarded by believers as responsible for serious maladies such astyphoid fever,whooping cough, epilepsy, delirium, and convulsions.[15] For example, Kali's agent goddessVasurimala is mythologized as responsible for smallpox and cholera. Believers in the rural Indian town of Cranganore, make symbolic monetary offerings to Kali, to fulfill promises made in fear of being stricken with smallpox or cholera.[16]
Woman as "Great Goddess" was often depicted as a goddess of death in ancient Greek mythology as well. For example, in ancient Greek mythology, at least 7 female goddesses are depicted as both nursing mothers and as queens of the dead.[15]
Sigmund Freud, the founder ofpsychoanalysis, argued that male hostility towards women stemmed from a subconscious misconception of one's mother ascastrated, which is then transposed onto the male individual as anirrational fear for one's own genitals.Joseph Campbell explored this in the context of a recurring image of avagina dentata (the "toothed vagina") that envelops and then destroys the phallus, while Freud himself instead highlighted the Greek myth ofMedusa as a manifestation of the fear of female genitalia and sexuality.[17]
Karen Horney, a psychoanalytic critic of Freud's theory of castration anxiety, proposed inThe Dread of Woman (1932) that gynophobia may instead be partially due to a boy's fear that his genital is inadequate in relation to the mother. She also remarked that she was surprised at the lack of explicit recognition of gynophobia, after she allegedly found ample historical, clinical, mythological, and anthropological evidence of gynophobia.[18]
Extreme examples of universal, cultural gynophobia have been found in the highlands of New Guinea, where widespread anti-masturbation propaganda coincides with notions of, "perilous female sexuality".[19] The anthropologistCarol Ember argues that such fears were likely caused by limited availability of basic resources that would be required to increase the population.[20]
