Hi Michael: Bruno Bettleheim wrote this in his book: The uses of enchantment: the meaning and importance of Fairy Tales (1975). p. 56-57 (you can find it in Amazon.com).
"Many girls of an older age group are deeply involved with horses; they play with toy horses and spin elaborate fantasies around them. When they get older and have the opportunity, their lives seem to rotate around real horses, which they take excellent care of and seem inseparable from. Psychoanalytic investigation has revealed that overinvolvement in and with horses can stand for many different emotional needs which the girl is trying to satisfy. For example, by controlling this powerful animal she can come to feel that she is controlling the male, or the sexually animalistic, within herself. Imagine what it would do to a girl's enjoyment of riding, to her self-respect, if she were made conscious of this desire which she is acting out in riding. She would be devastated -robbed of a harmless and enjoyable sublimation, and reduced in her own eyes to a bad person. At the same time, she would be hard-pressed to find an equally suitable outlet for such inner pressures, and therefore might not be able to master them". Now you can add this explanation to the Jungian one :) Alejandro -----Mensaje original----- De: Michael Britt [mailto:mich...@thepsychfiles.com] Enviado el: domingo, 24 de octubre de 2010 07:53 Para: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Asunto: [tips] Girls and Horses - Archetype? My 11 year old daughter has been interested in horses for a long time (unlike her 11 year old brother, but that's an N of only 2) so not long ago I brought her to a 4H horse farm. I don't visit horse farms that often, but whenever I do I notice that there seems to be a disproportionate number of young girls taking lessons. I mentioned this to a colleague and she agreed and interpreted this in a vague Jungian-archetypal way. I'm not too big on Jung, but I don't have any other explanation. Thoughts? Michael Michael Britt mich...@thepsychfiles.com http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: mbritt --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: alejandro.franc...@gmail.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=49237.ebea519cc0cae7f746ec818c8df32992&n=T &l=tips&o=5935 or send a blank email to leave-5935-49237.ebea519cc0cae7f746ec818c8df32...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=5939 or send a blank email to leave-5939-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
