M. MITSCHERLICH-NIELSEN
65
Ollendo rf-Reich , ma kes cl ear. H e measured human ma turity and
health by the degree of sexua l po tency, purged of all pregenital
fantas ies, and the streng th and inten sity of the o rgasm . H elmut
Dahmer ri ghtl y argues tha t Reich , by ma kin g a feti sh of genitality,
revoked Freud 's revo luti onary exten sion of the whole compl ex o f
sexuality. And it is largely fo r thi s reason tha t Marcuse's utopian ideas
contradi ct those of Reich . Fo r Marcuse the wo rld can onl y assume a
more fri endl y aspect if genital and pregenita l sexuality can be subli–
mated in such a way tha t areas of work and intell ectua l activity are a lso
rendered mo re sensuous.
In order to see the limita ti ons of Freud's view of fema le sexuality
and the rela ti onshi p o f th a t vi ew to the prejudi ces of the time, we need
to consider the mo re controversia l as pects of thi s area of psychoanalyti c
theory, including th e cl a ims of la ter di ssentin g psychoana lys ts. Freud
held the view tha t woman experi ences herself as a boy during the first
years of childh ood , whi ch are decisive fo r la ter development. No t until
she perceives th e ana tomi ca l d ifference between the sexes is she
compell ed to recogni ze wh a t he ca ll ed " realit y": compared with the
boy she possesses onl y a rudi menta ry sexu a l o rgan , the cl ito ri s. Th e
reali za ti on th at she is a second -cl ass bein g with a na tura l di sadvantage
is the reason she develops peni s en vy and fin a ll y decides in favor o f
being a woman-mo re p recisely of wantin g to have a child fr om her
father as a compensa ti on for her genit a l inferi o rity. An y woman who
did not accept such compensa ti on fo r her own in adequacy, wh o clung
to her own comp leteness in fantasy, and who was prepared to g ive up
clitoral sensa ti on s descr ibed as " pha lli c," had no t, accordin g to Freud ,
attained ma ture femininit y. T hi s ma ture femininity was expressed no t
onl y in the wi sh fo r children , but a lso in the capacity fo r vagina l
orgasm, whi ch is supposed to develop durin g o r a fter la te adol escence.
In other wo rds, Freud ass umes th a t as a result of the psychi c ass imil a–
tion of the ana tomi ca l difference between the sexes, woman must feel
herself
to
be destroyed . He con siders it a sign of ma turity when she
begins to repress the kn owledge of th e exi stence of her clito ris and
ucceeds in the course of puberty in repress ing th e sexua l stimuli
ori ginating in thi s organ .
Since Freud's time we have come to recogni ze that these ideas
about immature c1ito r.a l and ma ture vagina l sexu a lity have in fact
contributed to intensifying woman' s fee lings of inferi o rity and her
envy of man . For under such circumstances a woman is compell ed to
envy man no t onl y for hi s p referred socia l pos iti on but a lso because he,
unlike her, is a bl e to fulfill hi s genita l needs directl y, and th erefore
