Negative Animus

“It is the woman who is not using the animus creatively who is at his mercy for he must throw his light somewhere. So he attracts he attention by throwing his light on one formula or slogan after another quite regardless of their exact relevance. She falls into the trap and accepts what he shows her as gospel truth.
“A metallic note in a woman’s voice or some physical rigidity will announce his presence; it may be a stiffening of the shoulders; a slight twist of the lips or rigidity of the whole body. Words are powerless to remove him. Only action can do so – an affectionate gesture, a playful shake or even a cup of tea!
“Irrelevance is, I believe, the unmistakable hallmark of a negative animus statement. If looked at in isolation, animus generalizations are mostly sound remarks in themselves, for they are the fruit of experience garnered through the ages and they express the moral code of the place and time in history in which we live. But they happen to be irrelevant to the living moment.
“So we come to this: the animus is a woman’s greatest friend when he shines his light on what is relevant, and turns foe the moment he lapses into irrelevance.”- - Irene Claremont de Castillejo, Knowing Woman: A Feminine Psychology, Pg. 80