Rethinking the Psychoanalysis of Masculinity

Professor Karl Figlio has accomplished a remarkable feat: Under the heading "seminal masculinity", he has named and described a seemingly new dimension of masculinity that heretofore has been hiding in plain sight. Listen to this interview discussing Rethinking the Psychoanalysis of Masculinity: From Toxic to Seminal (Routledge, 2023)

In true psychoanalytic fashion he started his exploration by wondering about a surface phenomenon, namely the widespread use of the term "toxic" in reference to "masculinity" in the culture and teased out its connections to unconscious phantasy in which toxic masculinity is only the destructive underbelly of seminal masculinity, the latter being a internal position of collaboration and reparation. He links the pair of seminal versus toxic masculinity to a primal seminal ambivalence that has the subject torn between hope for renewal, creativity and collaboration and the desolation of the seeds of reparation failing and turning toxic, destroying what they hoped to enliven. This ambivalence is akin to the Kleinian depressive position and is defended against by loud and shrill phallic posturing. Figlio offers a richness of clinical and cultural material to show how we have tended to miss the seminal dimension of masculinity by falling for and analysing phallic masculinity in order to escape the dread inherent in the unconscious phantasy of semen giving out, becoming toxic and erasing the very foundation of life. Just as in an analysis, the insight gained by the acknowledgement of such a fundamental phantasy in unconscious life is accompanied by anxiety as well as creativity. Take it from me: Once you have opened your third ear to seminal masculinity, you will not be able to unhear it in your own or your analysands' material.

In the interview, we discuss, among many ofter things, "seminal masculinity" and "seminal ambivalence", its develomental roots in primary narcissism, and its connection to the 2008 financial crisis in its toxic guise. The interview will therefore not only be of great interest to psychoanalytic clinical practitioners, but also to a lay audience looking for a deeper understanding of masculinity.