Anima, Animus, and Culturally Created Gender Roles

This week, we dive into the concepts of Anima and Animus, the unconscious feminine and masculine archetypes within us. These are not about biological sex, but rather the culturally created ideas of what it means to be masculine or feminine. We discuss how these archetypes, rooted in the work of Carl Jung and the collective unconscious, can be seen as serving a purpose in reproducing societal norms.Our hosts reflect on how these unexamined archetypes can lead to real-world problems. One host shares their personal struggles with career expectations, and how comparing their professional path to a friend's revealed the impact of different upbringings and personality types. This leads to a discussion of how societal pressures and expectations tied to gender roles can manifest as both physical and mental health issues, such as autoimmune disorders in women and heart disease in men.The podcast also touches on the "myth of meritocracy" and the difficulty of class mobility. The frustration with navigating the job market, especially as a neurodivergent person, and the feeling of being misunderstood by others in the working class. They share a theory that the mannerisms and ways of thinking from a more elite upbringing can be a detriment when seeking certain types of employment.They discuss a new project to help others like them who may be affected by the upcoming tech wave and find themselves in a similar position. The idea is to create a "sandbox community" for the "newly poor" to learn how to work together instead of competing. They also highlight the need to build local networks and support small businesses, as they believe this is the safest place to be in the coming years.The episode concludes with a critique of a popular podcast where a guest discusses the future of AI. The host argues that the conversation was a perfect example of toxic, culturally created masculinity, which projects violence and hierarchy onto the future of technology and dismisses feminine-driven solutions. They challenge the idea that violence is an inevitability and highlight how women often transmute anger into creativity and building rather than destruction.The episode leaves listeners with a call to action: to reflect on the binary gender roles they've been carrying without realizing it, and to start asking themselves how much of their self-perception is truly their own, versus what has been culturally imposed.Learn more about Food not Bombshttps://foodnotbombs.net/new_site/Learn more about poor people's armyhttps://www.poorpeoplesarmy.org/Christine's fundraiser: