Gynophobia is an abnormal fear of women. In the past, the Latin term was used, horror feminae, meaning "fear of women".

The word caligynephobia is also coined to mean the fear of beautiful women. For the latter one the expression venustraphobia is also used. In many cases it may also be rooted in social phobia

Social phobia

Social phobia may refer to any of the following conditions:* Social anxiety disorder – a diagnosis referring to clinically excessive social anxiety...

 or social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder

Social anxiety disorder , also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear in social situations causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some parts of daily life...

.

Gynophobia used to be considered a driving force toward homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

. Havelock Ellis

Havelock Ellis

Henry Havelock Ellis, known as Havelock Ellis , was a British physician and psychologist, writer, and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He was co-author of the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and...

 in his 1896 Studies in the Psychology of Sex wrote:

"It is, perhaps, not difficult to account for the horror — much stronger than that normally felt toward a person of the same sex — with which the invert

Sexual inversion (sexology)

Sexual inversion is a term used by sexologists, primarily in the late 19th and early 20th century, to refer to homosexuality. Sexual inversion was believed to be an inborn reversal of gender traits: male inverts were, to a greater or lesser degree, inclined to traditionally female pursuits and...

 often regards the sexual organs of persons of the opposite sex. It cannot be said that the sexual organs of either sex under the influence of sexual excitement are esthetically pleasing; they only become emotionally desirable through the parallel excitement of the beholder. When the absence of parallel excitement is accompanied in the beholder by the sense of unfamiliarity as in childhood, or by a neurotic hypersensitiveness, the conditions are present for the production of intense horror feminae or horror masculis, as the case may be. It is possible that, as Otto Rank

Otto Rank

Otto Rank was an Austrian psychoanalyst, writer, teacher and therapist. Born in Vienna as Otto Rosenfeld, he was one of Sigmund Freud's closest colleagues for 20 years, a prolific writer on psychoanalytic themes, an editor of the two most important analytic journals, managing director of Freud's...

 argues in his interesting study, "Die Naktheit im Sage und Dichtung," [sic] this horror of the sexual organs of the opposite sex, to some extent felt even by normal people, is embodied in the Melusine

Melusine

Melusine is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers.She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down...

 type of legend."

Wilhelm Stekel

Wilhelm Stekel

Wilhelm Stekel was an Austrian physician and psychologist, who became one of Sigmund Freud's earliest followers, and was once described as "Freud's most distinguished pupil." According to Ernest Jones, "Stekel may be accorded the honour, together with Freud, of having founded the first...

 in his book "Sadism and Masochism: The Psychology of Hatred and Cruelty" discusses horror feminae of a male masochist.

Some authors consider the myths about Amazons

Amazons

The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...

 (Eva Keuls argues that violent amazons are the evidence of gynophobia in Classical Athens

Classical Athens

The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece was a notable polis of Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias...

.) and medieval witch-hunt

Witch-hunt

A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...

s to be manifestations of gynophobia in human culture.

See also

• Androphobia
  Androphobia
  Androphobia is an abnormal fear of men. The word is derived from the Greek άνδρας and φόβος .:)Androphobia may be related to traumatic events in the sufferer's past...
  
  : fear of men
• List of phobias
• Femme fatale
  Femme fatale
  A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
  
  
• Social anxiety disorder
  Social anxiety disorder
  Social anxiety disorder , also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear in social situations causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some parts of daily life...
  
  
• Social phobia
  Social phobia
  Social phobia may refer to any of the following conditions:* Social anxiety disorder – a diagnosis referring to clinically excessive social anxiety...
  
  
• Love shyness