The id, the ego, and the superego: truth or assumption?

Whilst there are many great minds throughout history, Sigmund Freud is one whose name
is quite well-known, even amongst those who aren’t particularly into psychology. This is
because Freud is not only recognized as influential but also controversial, what with his work on
psychosexual development, specifically the infamous Oedipus complex which basically claims
that little boys are attracted to their mothers and are jealous of their fathers. It is not exactly
something one would want to know about a person who is regarded a brilliant mind, but one
would have to consider that Freud has many other theories, some of which do not specifically
mention but still include said complex.
One popular theory of his, which is this essay’s main subject of scrutiny, is the
psychoanalytic theory, where he claims that the human psyche is divided into three concepts
namely, the id, the ego, and the superego. Simply put, the id is the instinctive and selfish part
that can be best symbolized as a baby, the ego is the mediator, and the superego is the ethical and
moral part. According to Freud, the id is present the moment one is born, although will always
remain unconscious, which is why infants only cry and demand for things without a care for
anyone else. To keep the id in check, the ego begins to develop during the child’s first three
years of life. Now, at the age of five begins the emergence of the superego that will then urge for
actions to be done accordingly to one’s internalized moral standards. At the point by which all
three have been fully developed, the id would have far more demands of various nature,
including sexually, and the superego would have better and more intellectual standards, all the
while the ego, basically the conscious self, continues to be the main deciding factor.
Now, while some might find themselves wholeheartedly agreeing with Freud’s simple
model of the mind, this writer, on the other hand, accepts some points, but strongly disagrees on
the rest because, considering the context from which the theory emerged from and the way it was
developed, there are plot holes.
To start with, here is a quote from Sigmund Freud on his 1925 paper entitled ‘The
Psychical Consequences of the Anatomic Distinction Between the Sexes’: “women oppose
change, receive passively, and add nothing of their own.” The quote, very explicitly, is sexist.
He even goes as far as claiming that women despise their lack of penis, therefore deciding to
have it treated through childbirth, especially hoping for a male child to make up for the genital
absence. Since Freud’s work heavily emphasizes on sex, theorizing that all actions are ultimately
influenced by our sexual desires and destructive instincts, he insisted that men have a stronger
superego because in the first place, its development was due to the incestuous sexual desire
referred to in the Oedipus complex so, consequently, women who they’d viewed as only caring
for reproduction alone, would have a weaker superego.
Of course, one must remember that Freud was a man of his times, thus the point is not
that he is unreliable because of his bigotry, but because his disinterest and established
perspective on the role of women in society is enough to tell that his theory had been developed
with mostly men in mind and is more the male psyche rather than the human psyche after all. In
addition, Freud even says that the great question he has had, and never got the answer to despite
his 30-year research, is “what do women want?”, hence debunking his theory regarding women,
further solidifying the argument that his concepts are really, just for men.
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