Similar to the male’s fear of his own feminine side and his projection of that fear onto actual women,
the male also fears the animus—a woman’s masculine side.9 Women, therefore, have been advocated
to reject possession by the animus. According to Jung, for the female, the experience of encountering
the animus is much different from the male experience; her encounter manifests itself as an obstacle to
her full development. While a woman “naturally” possesses Eros, the feminine emotional and intuitive
elements, she also contains unconscious elements of Logos, the masculine intellect and rationalizing
elements. Jung regards a woman’s Logos as a “compensatory factor” needed to offset imbalance in the
psyche (Archetypes 121). Yet, as he further clarifies, “Eros is an expression of [a woman’s] true nature,
while their Logos is often only a regrettable accident. It gives rise to misunderstandings and annoying
interpretations” (Aspects 171).10 Clearly, while Jung is concerned with the necessary integration of Eros
into male consciousness as a toward individuation, he does not regard Logos as a favorable
characteristic for women. The basic problem, however, for feminists working with Jungian archetypal
theory is not Jung’s definition of anima and animus; it is the tendency for Jungians to confuse “woman”
with “anima.” As Carol Christ asserts, “Jungians do not distinguish between the ‘feminine’ as a
compensatory aspect of the male experience and the feminine as the primary mode of experience in
women” (67). That is, Jungian analysis does not tend to take into account the difference between the
male psyche and how it interprets the feminine and the actual consciousness of the female. Ulanov
allows that women have traditionally adopted this misconception as well: “the lack of ease of women
with each other, their bewilderment about their own feminine reality” suggests “that even for females,
images of the feminine hold a much needed contact with contents and perspectives” (19). Women
themselves are uncertain as to what constitutes an authentic self, a reason, perhaps, why women are
prone to criticism and fear of many female types: the Mother, the Siren, and especially the bitch.