Analysis of Freud’s Views on Female Sexuality

This paper aims to present an analysis of Freud’s views on female sexuality. Sigmund Freud

posited that the root cause of psychological problems in humans is sexual repression (Hey,1999).

He believed that the repression of sexual instincts during childhood manifested in the form of

neurotic symptoms in adulthood. At a time where religion and culture were wedded in western

society and consequently sexual issues were treated as taboo subjects, the sexual emphasis of

Freud’s work was deemed revolutionary (Hey,1999). However, his outlook on female sexuality

was highly criticized by various psychologists and feminist thinkers since it was based on the

premise that women are defective boys (“Re-reading Freud's 'On Female Sexuality'”, 2019).

Even though Freud’s initial psychoanalytic experiences were with female patients, his

understanding of female sexuality is perceived to be extremely limited and flawed (Cohler &

Levy, 2008). His work in the area of female sexuality transpired in two stages. The first stage

relates to the period of his own introspection. At that phase, he assumed that the observations he

made on male sexual development can be extended to females (Cohler & Levy, 2008). Such

generalizations are problematic since Freud explained that the castration anxiety that boys face

as a result of their intense oedipal feelings facilitates the development of their superego which

prevents the oedipal hostility and allows them to reach psychosexual maturity (Ewen, 2009).

However, since females don't have penises, the castration anxiety could not have possibly

explained how females enter and navigate through the Oedipus complex (Cohler & Levy, 2008).

The second stage of his research originated when he was studying his daughter, Anna. It was

during this time that Freud drew a line between male and female sexual development (Cohler &

Galatzer, 2008). Freud suggested that female psychosexual maturity requires two main
transitions. The first is the replacement of the childhood primary erogenous zone; the clitoris,

with the vagina. The second is the exchange of the primary love object; the mother, for the father

(“Re-reading Freud's 'On Female Sexuality'”, 2019). Therefore, according to Freud, a girl has a

two-layered relationship with her mother; the pre-Oedipus one in which the girl develops a

strong attachment and identification with her mother, and the second one during which the girl

undergoes the Oedipus complex and wants to replace her mother in order to be with her father

(Bernstein, 2004).

Freud perceived girls as little boys who have a clitoris (which according to him is a lesser

version of a penis) during the early stages of their sexual development since they are not aware

of their vagina at that point in time. Once the girl discovers her own and her mother’s anatomic

abnormality, which Freud considered as genital inadequacy, she develops an aggression towards

her mother as she believes that she is responsible for it (Bernstein, 2004). It is at this point that

the female oedipal complex commences, as the girl gets attracted to the superior parental figure;

her father. To compensate for her castration, she wishes to have a baby from her father,

preferably a male who can provide her with a penis replacement. Furthermore, Freud argues that

since girls don't experience anticipatory castration anxiety, which plants the seeds for the growth

of the superego in males, they are unable to “to attain the principled morality supposedly

characteristic of psychologically mature men” (Bernstein, 2004, p.4).

In conclusion, I believe that Freud’s perspective on female sexuality was a reflection of the

misogynistic social and cultural context in which he was embedded. Unfortunately, these factors

have clouded his objective judgement as a psychologist since the foundations of his theory on

female sexuality were built on personal and biased assumptions which lacked empirical proof.
 References

Bernstein, P. P. (2004). Mothers and Daughters from Today’s Psychoanalytic Perspective.

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 24(5), 601–628. Retrieved from

https://doi-org.tc.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/07351692409349106

Cohler, B., & Galatzer-Levy, R. (2008). Freud, Anna, and the Problem of Female Sexuality.

Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 28(1), 3–26. Retrieved from

https://doi-org.tc.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/07351690701787085

Ewen, B. R. (2009). An introduction to theories of personality: 7th edition. Retrieved from

https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.tc.idm.oclc.org

Hey, W. (1999). Biography: Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysis and Sexual Repression. Retrieved

from https://www.vision.org/biography-sigmund-freud-psychoanalysis-and-sexual-

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Re-reading Freud's 'On Female Sexuality'. (2019). Retrieved from

https://www.scribd.com/document/237297564/Re-reading-Freud-s-on-Female-Sexuality