The Limiting Views of “Feminine” and “Masculine” Energies

You may have heard how each of us has masculine and feminine energies. Those who use these archetypes will emphasize they have nothing to do with gender. However, these labels perpetuate gender stereotypes and contribute to a limited view of ourselves. 

The Psychedelic Support team spoke with Jennifer C. Jones, PhD, LCSW, and Aisha Mohammed, LMFT, about their thoughts on feminine and masculine energies. Their responses are based on dialogue together, so we have attributed their comments as a team.

Meet Jennifer C. Jones and Aisha Mohammed

Jennifer C. Jones, PhD, LCSW, is a 54-year-old, multiracial Black, queer, fairly able-bodied, cisgender woman with U.S. citizenship. She co-founded Rising Caps Collective with Aisha Mohammed, supporting expansive healing to address the traumatic legacies of colonization, slavery, and capitalism. Jennifer works with MAPS MPBC as a JEDI consultant and a MAT educator. Since 1998, Jennifer has practiced trauma psychotherapy with individuals identifying as LGBQA, transgender or gender non-binary, people of color, sex workers, substance users, experiencing class oppression, and/or HIV positive. Previously, she served as Chief DEI Officer of Philadelphia FIGHT and as faculty and ED of GTIP. As a parent who believes a just world is possible, Jennifer is committed to the unity of the global poor and dispossessed, organizing across color lines to fight for everyone’s economic human rights.

Aisha Mohammed, LMFT, is a cisgender, queer, Pakistani-American woman who immigrated from Karachi to Los Angeles as a child. She has been working in harm reduction for a decade with Project SAFE, providing direct services and advocating for the human and labor rights of people who trade sex and use substances. Aisha trained as a family therapist at Drexel University and has worked primarily with low-income families of color, immigrants, and people who use substances in community mental health and educational settings. She currently works as a private practice therapist and is co-founder of Rising Caps Collective. She has been doing healing work with people in expanded states for 4 years with her co-founder, Jennifer Jones.

Jennifer and Aisha are instructors for the Women Healers in Psychedelic Practice: Sacredness and Embodied Ceremonial Wisdom course. This workshop critically looks at how the reductionistic and binary versions of the divine feminine and masculine archetypes can reinforce gender stereotypes socioculturally and examine how we can reclaim and harmonize these energies within ourselves

What Do “Feminine” and “Masculine” Energies Mean?

Jennifer and Aisha explained that many ancient healing systems describe energetics in gender binary terms, such as masculine or feminine energies, and define health in terms of balancing opposing qualities. They shared that mainstream rhetoric suggests that feminine energy is receptive, passive, able to become small or contract, intuitive, or inward, and masculine energy is projective, active, giving, expansive, or outward.

“Masculine behavior has run its course as the model for power… feminine power is lacking in the world, causing many of the world’s problems today.”

— Deepak Chopra

Masculine and Feminine Energies In Popular Culture

“Masculine” and “feminine” archetypes have been popularized via life coaches, blogs, the media, and well-known gurus. For instance, The Good Space published an article called How to Balance Your Masculine and Feminine Energy. The author delves into the dynamic interplay between feminine and masculine energy — often symbolized as Yin and Yang — and how these forces shape creative expression. 

The blog explores how these energies are ever-present within us, though often unbalanced. When one energy dominates, life can feel out of sync, manifesting as burnout, unfulfilled creative desires, or frustration. Recognizing and embracing both energies can pave the way to inner wisdom, fostering peace, compassion, vitality, and deeper connections with others. The author, Francesca Phillips, stated the following:

“Everyone is born with both of these universal energies. They don’t have a gender inherently assigned to them, but humankind associates Yin with the feminine. Yang with the masculine. Masculine is often viewed as bad and feminine as good. Let’s throw that out the window. There is no good or bad here. Both energies make up the very essence of who you are for a reason.”

The Divine Feminine and Its Role in the World

Deepak Chopra, MD, published an article about The Divine Feminine and the Power to Change the World where he expressed how “masculine behavior has run its course as the model for power” and feminine power is lacking in the world, causing many of the world’s problems today. He explained that Greek goddesses — Aphrodite, Hera, Athena, and Demeter — represent essential aspects of the divine feminine that exist within all individuals, regardless of gender.

Dr. Chopra states that core feminine qualities include nurturing and unconditional acceptance, the earth’s natural abundance, beauty, sexual magnetism, inspiration through intuition and creativity, and a deep-seated desire for harmony and peace.

“If the ancient Greeks, Indians, and Chinese could identify and express all of the qualities, not to mention valuing them as divine attributes, how advanced are we who turn our backs on them? There is a concerted call for more women leaders because the rampant behavior of out-of-control masculine energies cannot be tolerated any longer. But the whole point of calling feminine energies divine is that they apply to everyone.”

How Terms “Masculine” and “Feminine” Energies Contribute to Gender Stereotypes

Labeling energies as “masculine” or “feminine” can reinforce gender stereotypes by associating specific traits, behaviors, and qualities with one gender over another. 

Harms of Gender Stereotypes

This framework suggests that strength, logic, and assertiveness (often labeled as “masculine”) belong primarily to men while nurturing, intuition, and emotional sensitivity (labeled as “feminine”) belong primarily to women. These associations can limit individual expression and create societal pressures to conform to rigid gender roles and career choices. 

Gender stereotypes reinforce systemic inequalities, such as the gender wage gap and the lack of women in leadership. These labels also contribute to mental health struggles, encouraging emotional suppression in men and self-doubt in women. 

By framing energies in gendered terms, people may unconsciously reinforce binary thinking, making it harder to recognize that all individuals, regardless of gender, embody a mix of these qualities. This framing can be especially exclusionary for nonbinary and gender-nonconforming individuals, who may feel erased or pressured to align with traits based on traditional gender expectations, leading to stigma and discrimination.

How Gender Binaries Limit Us

 Aisha and Jennifer explained that people at the margins of social constructs of gender are inviting society to expand our notions of not only gender but also what it means to be healthy. They say:

“Non-binary thinking challenges notions of health based on the balance of dichotomies and instead encourages us to think of health as a process of inviting all parts and seeing energies on continuums. The natural world is filled with diversity and so much more than two of anything.”

They explain that it is not clear why people have attributed energetic polarities found in nature to particular genders, except that they do support gender stereotypes that maintain patriarchal power dynamics. However, when we think in gender binaries, we limit ourselves as it erases the diversity of gendered experiences that exist in society. Jennifer and Aisha explain:

“To attribute energetic characteristics to a particular gender can be essentializing because it suggests there is one way to be feminine or masculine rather than a multitude of ways. It also suggests that energies are polarized, dichotomous, and separate rather than on a continuum and coexisting.”

Why Do People Hold Onto A “Masculine” and “Feminine” Energies Framework?

There is a dialogue about how limiting the notion of feminine and masculine energies is; however, people continue to hold onto this framework and emphasize that it has nothing to do with gender.

Aisha and Jennifer share that this framework clearly does something for those who continue to engage with it. Therefore, the real question is, “What is this framework doing for the people who continue to perpetuate it?”

The experts suggest that, for some people, it may be about upholding gender stereotypes and patriarchal systems. For others, it may be a shorthand way to refer to a cluster of energetic qualities. They explain:

“Those who use [“masculine” and “feminine” energies] as a shorthand are not acknowledging that the use of gendered language in a patriarchal and hierarchical context not only essentializes gender and conflates it with sex, but it also replicates an inherent power dynamic in which everything associated with the feminine, although necessary, is assumed to be less valuable or desirable.”

On Harmonizing Our Energies

We asked Jennifer and Aisha how we can recognize when our energies are out of balance and if particular practices, exercises, or mindsets can help us harmonize and explore these energies while honoring our unique identities and experiences.

They explained that whenever we lack fluidity and flexibility where we feel and respond the same way no matter the circumstance or environment, we have to wonder if we are blocking ourselves from having the fullest experiences we can have.

Jennifer and Aisha believe harmony and balance are about acknowledging all parts of ourselves, accepting the diversity within us, and not thinking of ourselves in singular, essential ways. They share:

“Accessing an expanded awareness through all kinds of means, such as walking in the woods, doing meditation and breathwork, and using psychedelics, can help us explore the diversity within, and then through integration, we can accept the diversity within and hopefully begin to act from that expanded awareness.”

On Dropping Gendered Labels

Jennifer and Aisha share that to expand our awareness and behavior more fully, we could abandon the notion that energies have genders and focus instead on how we all hold energetic spectrums within us, with one end of the spectrum usually being more dominant at any given time. 

Instead of using gendered labels, we can describe these energies as complementary forces — such as yin and yang, active and receptive, or structured and fluid — allowing for a more inclusive and expansive understanding of human potential.

The Receptive-Active Spectrum

Aisha and Jennifer discussed using a receptive-active spectrum to describe energies. For example, we can be receptive in one context, such as receiving instructions in a yoga class, and active or assertive in another, such as guiding a colleague at work. 

However, they emphasize that to be truly effective, a person must be both receptive and active simultaneously. So, in the example of a yoga class, a person must be able to receive instruction while actively engaging in postures and deepening awareness of the sensations they are experiencing.

Jennifer and Aisha share that if someone’s receptive energies are dominant and they are unable to access active or assertive energies, they may be too passive in situations requiring quick, decisive action. Conversely, suppose their active energies are too dominant; they may not be able to slow down enough to take in important information and instead bulldoze their way through a situation that requires a nuanced, thoughtful approach. They explain:

“Being able to access the full energetic spectrum allows us to respond effectively to what different situations and contexts require of us. When we do healing or therapeutic work that fosters greater self-awareness, we can start to see if one end of the spectrum is too dominant within us, and therefore constricting.”

References

Chopra, D. (2020, January 26). The Divine Feminine and the Power to Change the World — The Chopra Foundation. Chopra Foundation. https://choprafoundation.org/consciousness/the-divine-feminine-and-the-power-to-change-the-world/.

Pemberton, E. (2024). Gender Stereotypes in Childhood: What’s the Harm? Birmingham City University. https://www.bcu.ac.uk/research/ed ucation-and-social-work/cspace-blog/gender-stereotypes-in-childhood-whats-the-harm

Phillips, F. (2023, May 26). How to Balance Your Masculine and Feminine Energy. The Good Space. https://www.findyourgoodspace.com/blog/how-to-balance-your-masculine-and-feminine-energy