0390435333.pdf

Feist−Feist: Theories of

Personality, Seventh

Edition

II. Psychodynamic

Theories

(^50) 2. Freud: Psychoanalysis © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
psychic energy that might otherwise be used to build a strong superego (Freud,
(1931/1961).
In summary, the female and male phallic stages take quite different routes.
First, the castration complex for girls takes the form of penis envy—not castration
anxiety. Second, penis envy precedesthe female Oedipus complex, whereas for boys
the opposite is true; that is, the castration anxiety followsthe male Oedipus complex.
Third, because penis envy takes place prior to the female Oedipus complex, little
girls do not experience a traumatic event comparable to boys’ castration anxiety.
Fourth, because girls do not experience this traumatic event, the female Oedipus
complex is more slowly and less completely dissolved than the male Oedipus
complex.
The simple male and female Oedipus complexes are summarized in Table 2.1.
Freud presented his views on the female Oedipus complex more tentatively
than he did his ideas regarding the male phallic stage. Although he framed these
views on femininity in a tentative and provisional manner, he soon began to
vigorously defend them. When some of his followers objected to his harsh view
of women, Freud became even more adamant in his position and insisted that
psychological differences between men and women could not be erased by culture
because they were the inevitable consequences of anatomical differences between
the sexes (Freud, 1925/1961). This rigid public stance on feminine development
has led some writers (Brannon, 2005; Breger, 2000; Chodorow, 1989, 1991, 1994;
Irigaray, 1986; Krausz, 1994) to criticize him as being sexist and uncomplimentary
to women.
Despite his steadfast public position, Freud privately was uncertain that his
views on women represented a final answer. One year after his pronouncement that
“anatomy is destiny,” he expressed some doubts, admitting that his understanding of
girls and women was incomplete. “We know less about the sexual life of little girls
than of boys. But we need not feel ashamed of this distinction; after all, the sexual
life of adult women is a ‘dark continent’ for psychology” (Freud 1926/1959b,
p. 212).
44 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
TABLE 2.1
Parallel Paths of the Simple Male and Female Phallic Phases
Male Phallic Phase

1. Oedipus complex(sexual desires for
   the mother/hostility for the father)


2. Castration complex in the form of
   castration anxiety shatters the
   Oedipus complex


3. Identification with the father


4. Strong superego replaces the nearly
   completely dissolved Oedipus
   complex

Female Phallic Phase

1. Castration complex in the form of
   penis envy


2. Oedipus complex develops as an
   attempt to obtain a penis (sexual
   desires for the father; hostility for
   the mother)


3. Gradual realization that the Oedipal
   desires are self-defeating


4. Identification with the mother


5. Weak superegoreplaces the partially
   dissolved Oedipus complex