The positive qualities of the
animus will be noted in dreams, and these should be discussed simply and clearly, avoiding abstraction
THE ANIMUS
Since the girl and the boy as members of the same family
have a similar environment, it is to be expected that the
girl’s image of the other sex will come to be formed,
mutatis mutandis, on the same framework as the boy’s.
We have then the girl’s experience of her father, who
becomes an all-important image in her mind. Upon this
background she will probably build her ideas about men.
He is the first man she meets and, by choice or involuntarily,
he becomes the model or standard by which
she assesses men. Supplementary to this source of the
masculine side of herself, there is the cumulative impression
from conversations she hears about men—conversaOur
Inner World / 129
tions in the home, her mother’s remarks, gossip from
girls at school, and her own experiences. All these add
to, but do not displace, the image of her father. There is
also the inherited image of man in the woman’s unconscious.
Just as the boy is born already fitted and
adapted to the other sex, so the girl arrive§ equipped with
a similar attitude towards men. Her life can be fulfilled
through men or more probably through one man. For
this masculine element in the woman, Jung employed the
term animus. His description of the animus is an original
contribution of practical importance to the psychology of
women.
Possibly with the majority of women the unconscious
masculine elements in her personality are harmoniously
blended with other attributes and so contribute to healthy
living. Like other qualities, the individual girl or woman
has no option about having an animus; it is part of her
normal endowment. However, the animus is not always
happily blended.
One of the simplest ways of observing the presence of an
unhealthy animus is by noting how the girl gets on with
other people. I f her friendships seem to be normal and
natural, and particularly if she meets the other sex
spontaneously and happily, all may be well. On the other
hand, as she grows up, perhaps when she goes to the
university or takes an appointment, she may slowly but
surely build up a reputation amongst her contemporaries
for being “ difficult” . They may have noticed her inability
to appreciate the feelings of others, although perhaps they
are unable to put it quite so simply as this. People will
be affronted by her, particularly men, and she will be
astonished that they are upset at her remarks because
130 / WHAT JUNG R E A L L Y SAID
surely she was entirely reasonable. I f not, why didn’t
they say so? For her the matter may end there. Probably
her remarks were reasonable; but the feelings of other
people do not depend only on reason. I f she has never
noticed these oft-repeated incidents—and this is likely—
she will make enemies and lose her men and women
friends.
Let us suppose her father—an important source of the
animus—was a failure qua father—supposing he left his
wife and went off with someone else. Perhaps the marriage
continued, but he was morose and silent, got on badly
with her mother or in some other way there was constraint
between them or times when they did not speak to one
another. These experiences affect her image of her father,
and as he is the prototype of men for her, the influence
will persist; unwittingly she will tend to meet all men with
reservations—felt by them, though perhaps not by her.
She might be unaware of any reservation and disown such
an idea; nevertheless she will be inclined to upset men and
she may not notice that she is doing so. She does not want
to offend them and her intentions may be admirable. But
should a man contradict her, however politely, or question
her bona fides, he will be “ shot down” instantly, to his
surprise. Her reaction seems disproportioned. This
is because without realising it she is perpetually on the
defensive, and so exonerates herself, whatever the cost.
Or if this is impossible she will find a scapegoat. This sort
of thing may occur again and again and yet make no
impression on her. Often she is generous to a fault and
helps those who ask for her co-operation. She finds it
easier to give than to receive. She makes the sad mistake of
undervaluing, just a little, the opinion of others. It may be
Our Inner World / 131
difficult to tell her anything; either she knows it already, or
if she does not, she is likely to indicate that it is of no
importance anyhow.
Alternatively, should her father have been a success
qua father, automatically he becomes a trusted source of
affection and security. His daughter may then idealise
him, feel she is owned by him, that she knows and understands
him better than anyone else. This happens all the
more easily should her mother be dead; but the presence
of her mother does not necessarily rule it out. A girl’s
close link with her father is often broken, to her distress:
he may remarry or he may go and live elsewhere. But the
effect of the early identification with him remains and she
may find it impossible ever to establish a close bond with
another man. Probably this will be against her conscious
wishes; yet she is unable to give herself, even in marriage:
she always keeps back something, guided by an unconscious
motive that she must never entrust herself to
another man. This can lead to homosexual attachments
which may or may not be accompanied by physical
manifestations.
It is healthy for women to have opinions, and they
would be very dull without them; but the woman with
an animus problem may become opinionated, that is, her
opinions may be thrust upon other people. As expressed,
her opinions may be sensible and original. Nevertheless
the hidden motive for putting them forward is usually to
score points. This activates the anima in a man and he
will feel indignant beyond the needs of the situation. I f
he knows nothing about feminine psychology he will
argue with the woman, little knowing that her tendency
will be to argue for the sake of argument, not to discover
132 / WHAT JUNG R E A L L Y SAID
the truth. She will achieve trivial verbal successes and
before very long the successes themselves pave the way
for defeat. Unfortunately for her she does not recognise
her defeats and the same pattern is repeated. Naturally
the activity of the animus will be affected by the woman’s
functional type (p. 54) and her natural gifts. She may be
highly intelligent with brilliant ideas, and these may be
focused upon some project which succeeds for a time
and then falters. Nothing seems to get built up around
her. There is strife without and conflict within, and as
she gets older she may find herself too much alone, her
friends having disappeared.
An illusion many women have to overcome, if they are
to be healthy, is that they are being attacked. They behave
as though the world at large was hostile. Should they be
endowed with charm and beauty, this can be used almost
as a means of keeping men at bay. Men will be attracted
by a girl’s beauty, but they will not see anything else, and
she will enjoy their admiration. Nevertheless their
appreciation is not reciprocated and she may look on her
physical attractiveness as a weapon. Adulation is easily
accepted; she needs praise for everything she does; without
it she feels lost. Of course there are faults on both sides,
and it is not always easy for a girl to show her feelings.
Perhaps this picture will seem over-drawn, and it does
not apply to every woman; nor are the regrettable features
of the animus evident every day of the week. For long
periods there may be happy contacts. Nevertheless it is a
true picture of the psychology of many women who hurt
and alienate their friends, and blindly ruin what is precious
in their personal life. They are badly adjusted emotionally
and tend to blame others for their failures.
Our Inner World / 133
In analytical treatment it is difficult, sometimes impossible,
to make the concept of the animus clear to a
woman in whom the masculine elements in her personality
are not harmoniously blended (see p. 129). She is her
own worst enemy. Her autonomous animus is always on
the defensive, impelled by a strong desire to be right and
to get in first, and so to avoid a situation where she might
be rejected. Of course this exaggeration of the animus
is a burden to the woman. But its recognition is the means
by which she can achieve her full development. It can be
a great practical help to a woman who wants to know how
the animus operates, to get her to write down her dreams
and to use every means in her power, such as painting
pictures or modelling, to give shape and form to the animus
quality which is disturbing her life. So long as she is
unaware of its existence it acts autonomously and destructively.
Such a woman behaves as though she is afraid of
losing control, and no situation in which her feelings are
involved is allowed to develop naturally. She interrupts
or in some unpredictable way makes others feel they have
missed the point.
I f she is to play her part happily and in harmony with
others she must become more conscious of the masculine
features in her personality. These are over-prominent
and they obscure her much more important feminine
qualities. A woman requires courage and patience to
undertake self-examination or to accept the well-meant
comments of others. She must leafn that her true
strength lies in sympathetic recognition of the feelings
of others. When this is accomplished the woman carries
out her true role: she keeps the group, the family, together.
Being less concerned with personal achievements, she is
134 / WHAT JUNG R E A L L Y SAID
more in touch with the inner world of the unconscious.
Remembering that the animus is a figure in the collective
unconscious, it will be important for her to pay attention
to her dreams. From them she should expect to learn and,
in consequence, to be able to make the necessary compensatory
adjustments. Also there will be a gain in discovering
how she may acquire a less personal—that is a
more impersonal—outlook in her efforts to be a woman.
With widening consciousness the energy wasted in petty
encounters may be used to put her in touch with the
external world. But first she must establish links with the
unconscious, the inner world, and so grow beyond the
unsatisfying attempts to establish herself by what Jung
calls “ the extra version of the animus” . “ Instead of the
woman merely associating opinions with external situations—
situations which she ought to think about consciously—
the animus as an associative function should be
directed inwards where it could associate the contents of
the unconscious . .. the woman must learn to criticize and
hold her opinions at a distance; not in order to repress
them, but by investigating their origins, to penetrate more
deeply into the background . . . the inner masculine side of
the woman brings forth creative seeds which have the
power to fertilize the feminine side of the man.” 82
Many women, through analysis, have seen the negative
effects of their animus tendencies and have corrected
them. This makes a striking difference in their personal
life: they get on more easily with other people on a
conscious level—an essential step in understanding the
impersonal, archetypal material of life. They are at
peace with themselves and, inevitably, impart an atmosphere
of quiet confidence. The positive qualities of the
animus will be noted in dreams, and these should be
discussed simply and clearly, avoiding abstraction, so
that the woman has a chance to realise in what way she
can do justice to herself. Within her grasp is the possibility
of forming a bridge between her conscious life and unconscious
background, which, it should be remembered,
works autonomously. This is never easy fti practice; but
with good-will it can be done. She must do most of the
work by valuing her unconscious—that is, by noting
dreams, by active imagination and painting, and in other
ways. By these means her life will develop and begin to
lose its asperities; she becomes prepared to receive as well
as to give.
Men are quickly aware of the woman whose animus is
not overdeveloped. She has the indefinable quality known
as charm; she is interested in the man, enjoys hearing
what he has got to say, and her enjoyment is genuine.
Such a woman would fit into the “ worlds lover” group;
but it should be noted that she, too, has an animus,
although it is not pathologically prominent. Nevertheless
it is there, and gives her an immediate affinity with men,
as though she knew something about them already.
Observation shows that women of this kind tend to get on
well with everyone because they are seldom on the defensive,
they feel no desire to score points, and they are not
shattered by making a mistake.
Jung’s description of the anima and animus was based
on prolonged observation of what was’ going on in the
unconscious of men and of women. His evaluation of the
unconscious is highly practical, not at all visionary, and
it makes it possible to understand numerous all too human
situations. ~Carl Jung, What Jung Really Said, Page 129-135
