Whatever Happened to Penis Envy

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Whatever Happened to Penis Envy?

• Linda L. Zimmerman
• Professor of Student Development
• Oakton Community College

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In 1922, Freud said

• The assumption that there are unconscious mental
  processes, the recognition of the theory of
  resistance and repression, the appreciation of
  the importance of sexuality and of the Oedipus
  complex - these constitute the principal subject
  matter of psycho-analysis. No one who cannot
  accept them ALL should count himself a
  psycho-analyst Freud, 1922.

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Laura Brown stated the situation very well in
1964, when she said

• The art, literature, and criticism of this
  century assume that there is an unconscious mind,
  that behavior is motivated and determined by
  early experiences, that there is an Oedipal
  struggle between father and son, that women do
  lack the objectivity bestowed by a successful
  resolution of the Oedipal conflict.

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According to Hannah Lerman, in 1986

• Assumptions about the inherent inferiority of
  women are embedded in the very core of
  psychoanalytic theory. These are not readily
  changed and are also not very amenable to
  patchwork repair.

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Sigmund Freud
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Background

• born on May 6, 1856, Freiberg, Moravia
• family moved to Vienna
• oldest brother with five sisters - then a baby
  brother (he had two much older half-brothers)
• His mothers only darling son for many years
• accorded special privileges in family

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Parents - Mother

• 20 years younger than her husband
• daughter of a famous scholar
• believed Freud was destined to greatness
• doted on Sigmund

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Parents - Father

• local merchant
• agnostic, and free thinker
• known for his sense
• of humor
• seen as critical and threatening by Freud

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EDUCATION

• trained at U.of Vienna Medical School
• aspired to an academic career in research, but
  couldnt get appointment
• turned to clinical medicine and specialized in
  the nervous system
• 1885, received grant to study psychological
  disorders with the help of his physiology
  professor, Ernst Brucke

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Career

• core of like-minded psychiatrists became the
  fulcrum of the psychoanalytic movement
• gained fame and ostracism from medical community
• emigrated to England right before WWII
• died of cancer of the mouth and jaw

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PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES

• Oral Stage birth - 18 months old
• Anal Stage 18 months - 3 years
• Phallic Stage 3 years - 6 years
• Latency Stage 6 years - 12 years
• Genital Stage 12 years adult

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Oral Stagebirth to 18 months old

• Pleasure through eating, sucking, and oral cavity
• Two parts
• 1. Child realizes dependence on others and ego
  forms (trust)
• 2. Child is weaned from breast or bottle

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Oral Stage continued

• weaning may frustrate the child because he/she
  must learn to bite and chew
• weaning may be interpreted as a sign of rejection
• children may actually spit out the food
• Freud associated adult traits with this stage
  such as gullibility, acquisitiveness,
  argumentativeness and biting sarcasm.

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Anal Stage18 months to 3 years

• Parents pressure child to become toilet
  trained
• overabundance of praise, rewards overly
  creative traits
• rigid, negative, and punitive stingy, stubborn,
  cruel, destructive, messy (anal retentive or
  expulsive)

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Phallic Stage3 to 6 years old

• awareness of pleasurable sensations associated
  with manipulating the genitals
• awareness of differences between men and women -
  in behavior and anatomy

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Electra Complex

• The Electra complex is more ambiguous than the
  Oedipus complex. Electra is defined as the
  Oedipus counterpart in girls. Electra was the
  daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who wanted
  her brother to avenge their father's death by
  killing their mother. .

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Phallic Stage

• Girls
• upsurge in libido focused upon genitals
• becomes more attached to her father
• observes boys penis (and her fathers), feels
  inferior
• blames her mother and becomes hostile
• believes her mother caused her castration
• dreams of bearing her fathers children, thus the
  term penis-envy
• identification with mother
• The idea that the Electra complex is referred to
  most of the time as "penis-envy" shows where
  Freud was in his thought process.
• Problem daddys girl - if father prefers
  daughter to mother, daughter cant separate
  and identify with mother

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Phallic Stage

• Boys
• upsurge in libido focused upon genitals
• desire for mother, wish to get rid of father,
  but fear of his power
• identification with father and repression of
  earlier desire for mother
• desire changes to a woman like mom
• Problem mamas boy - if mother prefers
  boy to the father, son cant separate

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The Oedipus Story

• Once upon a time
• King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes have a
  new baby boy. They are warned by a prophet,
  Your child will grow up to murder his father and
  marry his mother.

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• The infant is left in the mountains to die, but
  he is rescued by shepherds and grows up as the
  son of a foreign king and queen.

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• But another prophet repeats the same warning of
  murdering his father and incest with his mother.
• Odeipus decides to leave home to protect his
  step-parents.

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• Oedipus meets a stranger on the road and kills
  him in a quarrel. Unknown to Oedipus, the
  stranger is actually his father, King Laius.

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• Oedipus Arrives at Thebes.

• The City is threatened by a monster, the
  sphinx, which devours anyone who cant answer its
  riddle.
• Which animal has 4 feet in the morning, 2 at
  midday, and 3 in the evening?

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• Odeipus correctly states, Man, who in
  infancy crawls on all fours, who walks upright on
  two feet in maturity, and in his old age supports
  himself with a stick.

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• Odeipus is made king of Thebes and marries
  Jocasta (his mother).

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• King Oedipus reigns in peace until a plague
  breaks out, and a prophet is again consulted.
• The prophet says, the plague will end only if
  the murderer of King Laius is discovered.

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• When Oedipus discovers his unconscious
  crime, he blinds himself, and Jocasta commits
  suicide.
• Blinding is symbolic of the horror which
  follows the relevation of repressed ideas or
  wishes.

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Why is this story meaningful?

• Because Oedipus acts out a wish that everyone
  has had in early childhood (Freud)! This is the
  incest fantasy, falling in love with the mother,
  jealousy of the father the Oedipus Complex.

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Latency Stageages 6 years to 12 years

• sexual drives and impulses become inactive
• maturation of the ego
• consolidation of the superego
• energy channeled into friendships and mastering
  the environment

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Genital Stageages 13 years through life

• adolescents struggle for balance between
  dependency and independence
• healthy adults have capacity to work and play
  creatively and efficiently toward meaningful goals

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Self-in-context Theory

• Looks at development across the lifespan
• Includes the context of the environment
• Borrows from Erikson, Freud, Piaget, and others
• Grew out of the 1997 work of Jean Baker Miller
  and Irene Pierce Silver The Healing Connection
  How Women Form Relationships in Therapy and in
  Life
• Emphasizes that forming connections keeps us on
  task throughout our lives

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Infancy Birth to 2 Years

• Development of
• emotional balance
• empathy
• coordination
• trust
• Emotions are communicated

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Early Childhood 2 to 6 Years

• Language acquisition proceeds
• Motor development improves rapidly
• Emotional competence develops through learning
  delayed gratification
• Awareness of others gender, race, religion,
  culture, disabilities
• Cooperative play develops
• Ability to trust increases
• Development of peer group

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Middle Childhood Ages 6 to 12

• Self and other awareness of gender, race,
  religion, culture, abilities develops
• School learning intensifies
• Reading, writing, math skills develop
• Developing greater empathy is a key task

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Pubescence Girls - Ages 11 to 13
Boys - Ages 12 to 14

• changes A sense of autonomy and selfhood
• Learning assertiveness
• Emotional competence increases
• Moral understanding increases
• Social relationships develop
• Collaborative work skills develop
• Awareness of sexuality occurs
• Coping with dramatic body

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Adolescence Ages 13 to 20

• Search for a clear identity
• Spiritual identity is developed
• Sexual identity is developed
• A philosophy of life is developed
• Expanded image in relation to others
• Bodily changes and image issues
• Self management is learned.
• Intimate relationships are formed
• Developing balance in caring for self and others

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Early Adulthood Ages 21 to 35

• Meaningful work is found
• Long-range goals are developed
• Intimate relationships are solidified The ability
  to nurture others is expressed
• Finding meaning in life becomes important
• Delaying gratification to reach long-range goals
  is crucial

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Middle Adulthood Ages 35 to 55

• A philosophy of life is solidified
• People move outside themselves
• Nurturing children, parents, partners
• Supporting others
• Involvement in community
• Work and life choices reassessed

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Late Middle Age Ages 55 to 70

• Passing values to next generation
• Dealing with declining physical and intellectual
  abilities
• Coming to terms with life choices
• Dealing with parental death
• Dealing with parental death
• Planning for retirement
• Redefining roles
• Developing wisdom

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Late Adulthood Ages 70

• Dealing with diminished control of life
• Remaining connected to others
• Remaining connected to others
• Finding new meaning in life
• Engaging in a life review
• Grief, death, loss, change
• Resilience, retrospection
• Growth