No 3, 2010
Julie Côté Rousseau, M.A.
Defensive agenderality in women is defined here as the organization of
one’s psychic economy so as to protect one’s integrity from the threat
posed by incorporating components associated to the female gender.
Because of their difficulty in integrating certain characteristics
associated to the femininity, these women will live more or less
consciously as “having no specific gender” or “agendered”, this without
necessarily compensating by the acquisition of characteristics
associated to the male gender. This defensive psychic position can
cause significant sexual dysfunction. The difficulty in integrating
components associated to the female gender will therefore be considered
not as a consequence of sexual dysfunction, but as its main cause in
women who perceived themselves as “agendered”.