<blockquote>A further characteristic of the sexuality of early childhood is that the female organ as yet plays no part in it-the child has not yet discovered it. All the accent falls on the male organ, and all interest is concentrated on whether it is present or not.<ref>{{QLA}} Ch. 4</ref></blockquote>
The little [[girl]] notices <blockquote>If we penetrate deeply into the strikingly visible and well-proportioned [[penis]] neuroses of a brother or playmatewomen, immediately recognizing it as we not infrequently meet with the superior [[counterpart]] of her own small and hidden little organ and from then on she is subject repressed wish to [[possess a penis. We call this infantile wish "penis -envy]]" and include it within the castration complex.... <ref>{{TIAE}}</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>We ascribe a castration-complex to the female sex as well as to the male. That complex has not the same content in girls as in boys. The castration-complex in the girl, as well, is started by the sight of the genital organs of the other sex. She has seen immediately notices the difference, and-itmust be admitted-its significance. She feels herself at a great disadvantage, and often declares that she would "like to have something like that too," and falls a victim to ''penis-envy'', which leaves ineradicable traces on her development and character-formation, knows and, even in the most favorable instances, is not overcome without a great expenditure of mental energy. That the girl recognizes the fact that she lacks a penis, does not have mean that she accepts its absence lightly. On the contrary, she clings for a long time to the desire to get something like it, and believes in that possibility for an extraordinary number of years; and even at a time when her knowledge of reality has long since led her to abandon the fulfilment of this desire as being quite unattainable, analysis proves that it still persists in the unconscious, and retains a considerable charge of energy .... The discovery of her castration is a turning-point in the life of the girl. Three lines of development diverge from it; one leads to sexual inhibition or to neurosis, the second to a modification of character in the sense of masculinity complex, and wants the third to normal femininity .... At first the girl looks on her castration as a personal misfortune, and only gradually extends itto other females, and eventually to her mother.<ref>{{NILP}} Ch. 5</ref></blockquote>
This is <blockquote>The small girl feels sensitive over tbe lack of a sex organ equal to the way [[Freud]] describes [[boy's, and holds herself to be inferior on that account; and that this "penis -envy]] in [[Some Psychical Consequences " gives rise to a whole series of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes]] (1925j)characteristic feminine reactions.<ref>{{QLA}} Ch.4</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>The first allusion to [[envy]] in relation to the [[girl holds her mother responsible for her lack of a penis]] appears in [[On the Sexual Theories of Children]] in 1908; the little girl then declares ", and never forgives her for that she would rather be a boydeficiency. <ref>{{NILP}} Ch." 5</ref></blockquote>
===Child-Penis-Wish===
<blockquote>The wish with which the girl turns to her father is, no doubt, ultimately the wish for the penis, which her mother has refused her and which she now expects from her father. The feminine situation is, however, only established when the wish for the penis is replaced by the wish for a child -the child taking the place of the penis, in accordance with the old symbolic equation .... Her happiness is great indeed when this desire for a child one day finds real fulfilment; but especially is this so if the child is a little boy who brings the longed-for penis with him.<ref>{{NILP}} Ch. 5</ref></blockquote>
It constitutes the [[girl]]'s [[castration complex]] whereas [[anxiety]] concerning the [[penis]] constitutes the boy's [[castration complex]]. The [[castration complex]] leads to "masculine protest," a term invented by Adler and which he attached to ego instincts and not to sexual instincts. In [[The Sexual Theories of Children]] (1908c), [[Freud]] says that the little girl would rather be a boy but then the accent is put, not on the situation of boys in general, but on the possession of the male sexual organ in itself. The girl reproaches her mother with not having given her one and turns away from her to take the father as a love object. [[Penis envy]] and the [[castration complex]] thus bring her into the [[Oedipus complex]] out of which, unlike the boy, she will never emerge (cf. The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex, 1924d). The [[desire]] for a [[penis]] is replaced by the [[desire]] for a [[child]] by the [[father]]. But, whereas the [[boy]] [[identifies]] with the rival and forbidding father and thus constitutes a solid [[superego]], the girl does not manage to produce a [[superego]] of the same quality. The result is a series of feminine characteristics: the woman "displays a lesser sense of justice, a lesser inclination to submit herself to the great necessities of life," "she more often allows herself to be guided in her decisions by tender and hostile sentiments." In short, we must not allow ourselves "to be misled by the argumentations of feminists who want to impose on us a complete parity of position and appreciation between the sexes." [[Freud]]'s position is linked to his [[phallocentrism]] and he failed to assess the degree to which it derived from the [[patriarchal]] [[culture]] in which he lived. He studied only the case of boys in depth and deducted from it, mutatis mutandis, conclusions concerning girls. He could not conceive of women except in negative terms: in order to become a woman, a man would have to renounce his penis. He was unable to conceive of women in a positive manner, as equipped with organs in which the man is lacking. He could conceive that a man might be afraid of women who want to take his penis from him. He could not conceive of men desiring femininity, maternity, or breasts. Women could have the fantasy of being no more than castrated men. Freud asserted that the castration of women was a reality that they had to accept. He thus forced them into a feeling of inferiority from which it is difficult to see a way out. Children of both sexes are subjected to trauma when they learn that, whether boy or girl, neither one is the totality of the human being. Each one relies on their peer group for self-valorization and to devalorize the other. It is in this more general framework that we must situate [[castration]] [[anxiety]] and [[penis envy]]. [[Penis envy]] does not consist in wanting to change sex but fits into the narcissistic continuity: the girl would like to have the narcissistic and social advantages linked with the possession of a penis, rather than the organ itself (Horney, 1922), especially if she has the experience of her father and mother putting more value on the male child. Biological bedrock; Castration complex; Envy; Feminine sexuality; Feminism and psychoanalysis; Femininity; Femininity, refusal of; New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis; Oedipus complex; Pregnancy, fantasy of; Phallic mother; Phallic stage; Psychology of Women, The. A Psychoanalytic Interpretation; Puerperal psychoses; "Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes"; Wish for a baby. * Freud, Sigmund. (1908c). On the sexual theories of children. SE, 9: 205-226.* ——. (1913h). Observations and analyses drawn from analytical practice.* ——. (1925j). Some psychical consequences of the anatomical distinction between the sexes. SE, 19: 241-258.* ——. (1932a). The acquisition and control of fire. SE, 22: 183-193.* ——. (1933a [1932]). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis, SE, 22: 1-182. [[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Terms]][[Category:Concepts]][[Category:Sigmund Freud]][[Category:Jacques Lacan]] [[Category:{{Freudian Dictionary]] PAGES 97, 103 HOMERpenis envy 35, 37 [[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Terms]]}}
