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Article: Masculinity/Femininity
- Article from:
- International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis
- Author:
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MASCULINITY/FEMININITY
The feeling of belonging to a gender, masculine or feminine, has different meanings: first, a biological meaning that refers to primary and secondary sexual characteristics; second, a sociological meaning that has to do with the real and symbolic roles that society attributes to men and women; and finally, a psychological meaning that considers the ensemble of traits belonging to either gender.
As early as 1897, in his correspondence with Wilhelm Fliess, Sigmund Freud showed interest in the masculine/feminine dichotomy from two different, complementary perspectives: that of bisexuality and that of psychosexual development. He continued his study in "Three Essays ...