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Article: A Complex Complex
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 14, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Q. Why did Freud think women suffer from "penis envy" when that
is obviously absurd?
A. Sure it's easy to criticize Freud these days. But when you
look at what Freud wrote, at the actual text, is it really so
offensive? He wrote that women "fall a victim to envy for the penis
which will leave ineradicable traces on their development and which
will not be surmounted in even the most favorable cases without a
severe expenditure of psychical energy."
He went on to say that because of this trauma, women suffer
from "narcissism" and "physical vanity" and have a weak sense of
justice; that they are rigid and inflexible; that "to be loved is a
stronger need for them than to love"; that "they ...