68
PARTISAN REVIEW
contrary than the recogmtl on th a t bo th sexes o ri g in all y seek to
iden tify, in their infantil e way, with the sou rce o f th e sa ti sfaction of
their needs-the omnipo tent mo ther. Rene Spitz's observa ti ons a lso
support the assumpti on of a p rimary " femininity" a ri sing through
identifi cation with the mo ther and manifes ting itself abo ve all in the
internalization of protecti ve and anxiety-a ll evi a ting beh avi o r. The
course of the child 's further development, whi ch centers on an in–
creasing ability to perceive reality, (whether that of the an atomi cal
difference between the sexes o r the different social va lua ti on pl aced on
the sexes), mo re and more compels the child to relate its psychi c growth
to its sex. The boy resists hi s cl ose infantil e identifi ca tion with his
mother, whil e the girl frequentl y perceives herself to be second-ra te.
Freud's own theories a rose from hi s lI1terpreta li on s of hi s pa ti ents'
memories, fantasies, dreams, neu roti c symptoms and modes of beh av–
ior. For him th e daughter's turning towards her fa ther was determined
no t by natural feminine needs, but by complica ted , confli ct- genera ting
psychic transfo rmation s o f certa in perception s, and oft en resulted from
conflicts with the parents, especia ll y the mother. I stress thi s in order
to recall something that is a ll too eas il y fo rgotten by criti cs of Freud:
namely tha t psychoana lysis is always concern ed with the
p sych ic
working-through of confli cts inevitabl y influenced by the various
phases of psycho biological ma turity, and experi enced with the parents
o r their interna li zed obj ect-representa tion s. Freud 's error in seeing a
sign of psychosexua l ma turity in the transference of sexua l arousal
from the clito ri s to the vagina was, in my opini on , due no t merely to
con temporary mi sinfo rma ti on about phys io logy, biology, and the
embryonic development of the genita ls; it a lso derived from the idea of
male supremacy in society, whi ch demanded fema le passivity as a
counterpart.
If
women' s sexua l needs are no different from men 's in
intensity and acti vity, and canno t be sa ti sfi ed onl y in pass ivity o r
masochi stic pl easure in subj ecti on , then thi s is a threa t to the who le
no ti on of ma le supremacy. Indeed, Freud showed in va ri ous pl aces in
hi s works tha t bo th sexes have an equa l need to repea t pass ive
experi ences and traumati c impress ions, in o rder to be a ble eventua ll y
to overcome them. Why should the same thing no t be true in the case of
female sexuali ty? But in thi s pa rti cul a r case, in Freud 's account , the
need fo r acti vity and control is no t seen as a progress ive development
but is instead devalued as a regress ion to th e pha lli c stage.
It
is wo rth no ting tha t Freud 's theori es abo ut the o ri gin and
development of peni s-en vy were no t shared by a ll psychoana lys ts.
Karen Horney's views, fo r examp le, differ signifi cantl y. In her o pin-
