DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

environment, during which time she described having “lost” herself. The dissimilar
features of Claire’s crisis will be discussed later.
Amongst the men, the same masculine to feminine shift can be found. After
leaving his job and wife, Frank described his new philosophy as one which is based
around the importance of emotionality. He said that he was finding a new depth to
relationships with other men:
“Yeah, a relationship between two guys can be a beautiful thing, it can be a very nice
thing. It can be very open and it can be emotionally vulnerable.” (p.18)
Frank is the only one to actually link an opening to his feminine side to sexual
activity:
“And because I was maybe rediscovering that feminine side, that open side, or not
feeling threatened by closeness with other guys, there was one situation where I
kissed a guy. I didn’t like it but at least I tried it, and I thought why not. I was
experimenting with everything at that stage, drugs and everything else, so yeah.”
(p.18)
Although Mark discussed the issue of gender markedly less than the other
participants, he does link his emerging desire to do something more caring in his
career with his emergent sense of femininity. The lack of outlet for this sense of
caring was one of the major problems in his old job, and his new self now has that
outlet:
“Yeah, it’s more caring, alert to others. It was a permission to show it, and I think
that was the part of the problem, that the caring was there but there was no outlet for
it. (p.16)
When Rob was asked if he had developed in his awareness of his feminine aspect over
the crisis period, he replied:
“Yeah, definitely. It’s something that….how can I articulate this…I spent last
summer wearing sarongs. There is a physical manifestation of getting in touch with
my feminine side. I think that there is an emergent feminine side. I am very aware of
my feminine aspect.” (p.18)
Rob said that his feminine aspect “comes out through sensitivity.” (p.18). He goes on
to say that while this new femininity has emerged, he had also tried to express his
masculinity in a healthy and “noble” way:
“Yeah. I am really proud to be a man, and I am really proud to understand what
being a man means. I don’t think I understood that before, I think I abused my
power, physical and mental, and manipulated. Yet I can really see what role
masculinity has in the world, and I value that. Now, I am getting a chance to explore
that. So while I am aware of my feminine side, and I think that’s important, I am
more interested in developing a noble, strong, dignified man, and harnessing his
power and strength and his own qualities.” (p.18)
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