Reproducing gender in counseling and psychotherapy: Understanding the problem and changing the practice

In this article I argue that the concept of gender is misunderstood by the majority of psychologists. Increasingly the term "gender" is mindlessly rep lacing the term "sex," obfuscating decades of theory and research that eluc idated gender as a complex social-psychological variable rather than a bifu rcated individual-difference variable tied to biological sex. As a conseque nce, gender is largely ignored as an "active" variable in counseling resear ch and practice. Current theory and research on gender as they apply to cou nseling and psychotherapy are first described. Then ways in which gender pr ocesses are often reproduced in counseling and psychotherapy and factors co ntributing to this practice are illuminated. Finally, areas particularly vu lnerable to reproducing gender are described and some examples provided of the reproducing, and the disrupting, of gender processes in counseling.