User:Phoebe/del

userfied from AFD

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 * for referencing the wiktionary article:

from talk page of androphobia
I went searching for sources for this article. I searched
 * the Pubmed database
 * the Psychinfo database
 * Merck
 * several other medical texts and dictionaries

and got no references for this term (compare to the better-known phobia agoraphobia which has 2800+ references in both databases).

The only references I found were:
 * a reference in the Merriam-Webster medical dictionary, giving roughly the same definition we do; and
 * a reference in "Cassell's Queer Companion" that says in part that "The word was developed within the feminist and lesbian-feminist movements to redress the imbalance caused by the lack of an opposite term for gynophobia."

After finding this, I then searched the women's studies literature for more. The only thing I found in the "Women's studies international" database was an opinion article by Robert Anton Wilson, where he uses the term to refer to hatred of men but doesn't attempt a formal definition.

In the database "Genderwatch," there were only two hits:


 * one about teaching a gender studies class called "Pedagogical Issues and Approaches Encountered in a Psychology of Men Course" where the only reference is:


 * "The introduction of the following terms helps balance the idea of sexism; misogyny, misandry, gynephobia, androphobia, androcentric, and gynocentric. A discussion of how sexism manifests itself as discrimination would follow."


 * The second hit has a brief reference to "Gay/Lesbian Almanac: A New Documentary", (Jonathan N. Katz) p. 366, which I haven't been able to follow up on.

Note that this does appear on the phobia list website (along with fear of garlic, etc.) but the author doesn't give a specific source. "The Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears and Anxieties" might be a good place to check.

Anyway: I call neologism here. It may be an interesting term, but it does not seem to be in any sort of wide use. I don't know if it should be deleted, but if not we definitely need to amend the article to reflect the gender studies history of the term rather than any purely medical origins.