Toward creating positive masculinity? Art therapy as seen by male art therapists and male adolescent clients

The current study examined the experiences and perceptions of art therapy of seven male art therapists and five male adolescent clients treated by male therapists. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of semi-structured interviews was conducted to gain insights into the meaning of art therapy for both the therapists and the clients. Two themes emerged from the analysis. The first was termed “toward positive masculinity” and dealt with the specific verbal and non-verbal characteristics of the relationship between therapists and clients, its challenges, and the ways in which hegemonic gender stereotypes are preserved as well as overturned. The second covered the characteristics of the art process and products as they reflect the binary gender division. The findings suggest that the place of the father in developmental and clinical work should be revisited and that greater attention should be paid to critical feminist theories and the “new psychology of men” in theories of art therapy and in clinical settings.