Heterophobia

Heterophobia, also known as sexophobia, is the fear of the opposite sex. The fear is caused by negative experiences with the opposite sex (such as being sexually assaulted), or even genetics and heredity. Heterophobes would avoid encountering people of opposite gender, that is, men should avoid women while women should avoid men. If the person of opposite sex contact the sufferers, symptoms may result, including breathlessness, dizziness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, coronary heart palpitations, inability to speak or assume clearly, a fear of dying (thanatophobia), turning into mad or dropping control, a sensation of detachment from actuality or a full blown anxiety attack.

There are variety of methods of treating heterophobia, including, relaxation methods, , and medications. Exposure therapy involves controlled encounter with a very trusted and well-behaved person with opposite sex and interact in a good, relaxing way, helping to ease the fear.