You are currently viewing 3/12: Relational Intelligence and Play in Couple Therapy: Grappling with Dominance-Based Masculinity

3/12: Relational Intelligence and Play in Couple Therapy: Grappling with Dominance-Based Masculinity

March 12, 2021, 10:00 – 1:00 PM ET

 Mark Greene and I will lead an experiential workshop providing actionable practices to understand and address domination-based masculinity in couple therapy. This workshop is being hosted by Ackerman Institute of Family Therapy’s Friday workshop series. Register here.

Dominance-based or extremist masculinity is more prominent and visible in the face of uncertainty. Often, we are raised to relate to uncertainty through frames of individualism and the assertion of control. Such a trauma-inducing mechanism furthers a culture of dominance, which favors the few at the cost of the many. The resulting invisible, but highly organizing, relational arrangement rejects connection and fosters individualism. In this workshop, we will unpack mechanisms of domination that foster control and divisiveness in the face of uncertainty. How does it show up in our therapy practice? How might we orient our dialogues to operate at both the social and the interpersonal level to counteract the presence of domination?

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will identify the mechanisms of the man box that creates our dominance-based culture of masculinity
  • Participants will apply relational practices to unpack the man box culture within couple therapy
  • Participants will reflect on their positionality and its relationship to play, uncertainty, and control

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