ABSTRACT
Like many male arts therapists, whilst in training I noticed that I was in a minority surrounded mainly by female students. Out of a group of 12 there were two males including myself in my training as a dramatherapist and only one male dramatherapy lecturer. My experience was not dissimilar to Tavani (2007) who also noticed this disparity between the sexes when he commenced his training in 2001. Now many years later, as a teacher, trainer and lecturer in arts therapies I notice this is still a current theme.
Hogan & Cornish (2014) have considered the difference in attitude between male and female therapists and the potential impact on their clients. They acknowledge that male therapists overall tend to consider the impact of their gender as more significant to the therapeutic alliance than do females. However, despite this, there is little academic writing, theory, or research within the arts therapies and especially within dramatherapy from a male perspective. This chapter seeks to consider from a phenomenological, systemic, and attachment-based perspective, both training in a female-dominated profession and the impact of being a male dramatherapist working with families and children for the last 20 years. It will consider from a philosophical and pragmatic perspective such questions as, should male therapists work with young female survivors of sexual abuse? Can male therapists build a more positive therapeutic relationship with adolescent males who have sexually offended? To what extent can male therapists represent a positive role model to adolescents with absent fathers? This chapter will attempt to lift the lid on taboos around what being a male arts therapist is really about and what they should or should not be doing in their work and why. It will begin to delve into areas never ventured into before.
