On Wed, 17 Oct 2001, Jeffrey Nagelbush wrote: > > I know this is true and teach this to my classes. I do have a question, > however. What is the Freudian mechanism for females developing their > superego and feminine identity since they have no counterpart to the Oedipus > conflict?
There's a great answer to this question. (Warning to feminists: What follows may be harmful to your anger management skills). Freud recognized that there was a problem. Girl can't worry about having her thing cut off because the dirty deed was apparently already done. So Freudian theory says no castration anxiety. If there's no castration anxiety, then there's no resolution of it, and therefore no development of the superego. So Freud says theory must be wrong, right? No, he doesn't. He says theory is right, must mean women have a defective superego. To wit: "I cannot escape the notion (though I hesitate to give it expression) [our boy knows that feminists are really going to love this!] that for women the level of what is ethically normal is different from what it is to men. Their super-ego is never so inexorable, so impersonal, so independent of its emotional origins as we require it to be in men". "We must not allow ourselves to be deflected from such conclusions by the denials of the feminists, who are anxious to force us to regard the two sexes as completely equal in position and worth." Not fearless Freud, anyway. -From "Some psychical consequences of the anatomical distinction between the sexes" -Sigmund Freud (1925) And as an aside to Rick Froman, whose post just arrived, how can you maintain that the Electra Complex was Freud's idea in view of the quotation in my last post which has him repudiate it? And in searching my file for the above quote, I hit the jackpot. Kilmartin and Dervin (1997) tell all. They note that Freud said "I do not see any progress or advantage in the introduction of the term "Electra complex", and do not advocate its use...We are right in rejecting the term". They even provide a source for Jung, who said: "[A] daughter develops a specific liking for the father, with a correspondingly jealous attitude toward the mother. We could call this the Electra complex". And we do. -Jung, The theory of psychoanalysis, 1912 Reference Kilmartin, c., & Dervin, D. (1997). Inaccurate representation of the Electra complex in psychology textbooks. Teaching of Psychology, 24, 269-- -Stephen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
