In the counseling process the use of power as a therapist influence strategy has not been demonstrated. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether women and men prefer different types of power statements made by female and male therapists in an initial therapy session with male clients. Subjects (N=153) were undergraduates enrolled in English classes at the University of Tennessee, including 70 female and 83 male students. Subjects read a counseling scenario of an initial therapy session and were asked to choose the response they preferred the therapist to make. Respondents selected either an expert therapist response or a transformational therapist response. Comparisons were made based on the gender of respondents who read the scenario, the gender of the therapist in the counseling scenario, and the type of power/influence strategy selected by the respondents. Results of a chi-square analysis indicated that there were no significant differences between male and female respondents' preferences for expert power or transformational power, although both male and female respondents seemed to prefer expert power over transformational power. This was true regardless of therapist gender. The preference for expert power statements may have implications for female therapists working with some male clients. Both male and female respondents endorsed expert power slightly more often than transformational power indicating that when the client is male, female therapists were preferred to be more expert than empowering. (Contains 11 references.) (ABL)