Table of contents:
- Venustraphobia is the fear of women
- Venustraphobia: symptoms
- Why am i afraid of women
- How to overcome venustraphobia
- Guided relaxation for anxiety
It is not at all uncommon for a man to be blocked when it comes to having to talk and interact with a beautiful woman, since nerves can always play tricks at the least appropriate moments.
However, there are a type of men who live with a constant, abnormal and unjustified fear of beautiful women. This phobia is known as venustraphobia or caliginephobia.
In Psychology-Online, we intend to explain what venustraphobia is, what it can be due to and how to overcome this phobia.
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- Venustraphobia: symptoms
- Why am i afraid of women
- How to overcome venustraphobia
Venustraphobia is the fear of women
The term venustraphobia comes from the union of the words Venus (thus referred to by the goddess, which was synonymous with love and beauty) and phobia (a concept that means intense and irrational fear of a person, thing or situation).
After a detailed search, it has been seen that this phobia is not one of the most studied in psychology. However, we do find a comment about her made by the psychologist Carlos Quintero, who stated that: « Venustraphobia is an irrational fear that many men have when they see a beautiful woman, and they automatically generate rejection. This phobia is an insecurity created in the man since he was a child, because he is educated in society that beautiful women can only be approached by successful men ».
As we will explain later, the positive relationship between the development of this phobia and having been participants in a bad experience has also been seen, which ended up becoming a traumatic event for man.
In these articles you can see other rare phobias and the most common phobias.
Venustraphobia: symptoms
As we have found in the dictionary of phobias, this is suffered mostly by men, although cases in which women suffer from this phobia are not ruled out.
It is characterized by a specific symptomatology, where men usually suffer:
- Shaking chills
- Momentary tachycardia
- Trembling in the legs
- Sweaty hands
- Stammering
In some more extreme cases of venustraphobia, the man may feel dizzy and vomit. Like the rest of phobias, this has a great impact on the life of the individual, which leads to an emotional impact on their health.
Why am i afraid of women
What are the causes of venustraphobia? From the point of view of psychology, it is believed that this phobia is determined by the presence of a traumatic event in the life of the person who suffers it, such as having been rejected in the past or having been attacked by beautiful women, doing this develops a fear towards them.
Many times you are not aware of this memory and the man only feels a feeling of discomfort caused by the fact of being in front of a beautiful woman, which makes him not understand exactly why this fear.
Usually, men know that the fear they feel is irrational and unfounded by their own feelings and thoughts, however, they are not able to cope with them by interacting with the woman who creates such symptoms.
How to overcome venustraphobia
Like the rest of phobias that we know, in order to overcome it, progressive exposure to it is recommended. This in psychology is known as a hierarchical exposition.
To carry out this presentation, the affected person is asked to draw up a list of 10 situations related to women that would create anxiety and in which the previously described symptoms would appear. In some more serious cases, some type of medication can also be used, such as an antidepressant (always under medical prescription, of course), to treat the patient's anxiety.
Once the list of situations that trigger anxiety has been made, these should be scored from 0 to 10 (0-almost does not cause anxiety; 10-maximum anxiety). In all cases, you must start with the situation that corresponds to an anxiety score of 5. Next, the situation will be explained, it can be done alone or with a companion if you feel safer.
The exposure should never be abandoned as this would be counterproductive for the elimination of the phobia, however if the level of anxiety is very high, it is possible to stop for a few minutes and resume the exposure after a short period of time.
Little by little, situations have to be overcome until the one that created an anxiety of 10 in the subject calmly and without symptoms.
While it is true that fear of beautiful women will be reduced, it must be taken into account that phobias tend to persist in the mind of the person who suffers them, so they are not completely eliminated. That is why relaxation and breathing techniques are also recommended so that if at any time you feel anxious, you can use them to reduce it quickly.
Guided relaxation for anxiety
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Venustraphobia: what it is, symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical Psychology.
Bibliography- KienyKe. (2017). ' Venustrafobia': Panic pretty women . Recovered from:
- Venustraphobia - Fear of beautiful women Retrieved from