Penis Envy and the Female Oedipus Complex: A Plea to Reawaken an Ineffectual Debate

Siegfried Zepf; Dietmar Seel

doi:10.1521/prev.2016.103.3.397

The Psychology of Women: A Psychoanalytic Review*

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/070674378903400906 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 34 (9) ◽

pp. 872-878

Author(s):

Fern E. Small

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Normal Phase ◽

Oedipus Complex ◽

Female Character ◽

Female Development ◽

Psychology Of Women ◽

Penis Envy

Freud's psychoanalytic views of female development emphasized the importance of penis envy and the Oedipus complex. Resolution of the Oedipus complex resulted in a “neurotic” solution, a “masculinity complex ” or a normal feminine attitude involving acceptance of anatomic inferiority, passivity, masochism and narcissism. Modern psychoanalytic views have rejected or reformulated many of these theories. Penis envy is seen as a normal phase of development which is resolved in most women. Women have been found to develop strong, albeit different, super ego structures. The female character triad has been questioned and the role of environmental factors emphasized. Efforts continue to develop a comprehensive well-integrated view of female psychology.

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Review of Rhea Complex: A Detour Around Oedipus Complex.

Contemporary Psychology ◽

10.1037/027499 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 32 (9) ◽

pp. 832-832

Author(s):

No authorship indicated

Keyword(s):

Oedipus Complex

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Attachment and the Oedipus complex: Attachment orientations moderate the effects of priming Oedipal representations on the construal of romantic relationships.

Psychoanalytic Psychology ◽

10.1037/pap0000290 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 324-334

Author(s):

Limor Biton-Bereby ◽

Mario Mikulincer ◽

Phillip R. Shaver

Keyword(s):

Romantic Relationships ◽

Oedipus Complex ◽

Attachment Orientations

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‘Family Romance’ and the Oedipalization of Freudian Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis and History ◽

10.3366/pah.2020.0336 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 175-187

Author(s):

Herman Westerink ◽

Philippe Van Haute

Keyword(s):

Object Relations ◽

Sexual Difference ◽

Oedipus Complex ◽

Difference Family ◽

Radical Theory ◽

Freudian Psychoanalysis ◽

Secondary Literature ◽

Family Romance ◽

Short Essay ◽

Informative Text

Although Freud's ‘Family Romances’ from 1909 is hardly ever discussed at length in secondary literature, this article highlights this short essay as an important and informative text about Freud's changing perspectives on sexuality in the period in which the text was written. Given the fact that Freud, in his 1905 Three Essays, develops a radical theory of infantile sexuality as polymorphously perverse and as autoerotic pleasure, we argue that ‘Family Romances’, together with the closely related essay on infantile sexual theories (1908), paves the way for new theories of sexuality defined in terms of object relations informed by knowledge of sexual difference. ‘Family Romances’, in other words, preludes the introduction of the Oedipus complex, but also – interestingly – gives room for a Jungian view of sexuality and sexual phantasy. ‘Family Romances’ is thus a good illustration of the complex way in which Freud's theories of sexuality developed through time.

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The Oedipus Complex: Cross-Cultural Evidence.William N. Stephens

American Journal of Sociology ◽

10.1086/223568 ◽

1963 ◽

Vol 69 (2) ◽

pp. 211-211

Author(s):

Robert A. Ellis

Keyword(s):

Cross Cultural ◽

Oedipus Complex ◽

Complex Cross

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César Hautot – ein naturalistischer Ödipus? Guy de Maupassants Hautot père et fils auf der Schwelle zur Psychoanalyse

Romanistisches Jahrbuch ◽

10.1515/roja-2018-0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 69 (1) ◽

pp. 184-197

Author(s):

Claudia Jacobi

Keyword(s):

Literary Criticism ◽

Literary Work ◽

Oedipus Complex ◽

Historical Process ◽

Literary Representation ◽

Short Novel ◽

Scientific Approach

Abstract Literary criticism has mentioned some affinities between Guy de Maupassant’s literary work and Freud’s psychoanalysis, without ever reflecting on Maupassant’s literary anticipation of the Oedipus complex. The latter is particularly evident in the short novel Hautot père et fils (1889), which has not received much attention to date. The article aims to illustrate some evident parallels between Maupassant’s literary representation of a father-son conflict and Freud’s scientific approach. In doing so, it does not intend to deliver a demonstration of the emergence of Freudian concepts from naturalistic fiction. It shall rather be considered as a literary case study, which illustrates the discourse-historical process of transformation from the physiological paradigm of naturalism to the psychological paradigm of the arising psychoanalysis.

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