penis envy

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envy

a desire to have another's possessions or qualities for oneself.

penis envy in psychoanalysis, the concept that the female envies the male his possession of a penis, first described by Freud as occurring during the phallic stage in little girls as they become aware of anatomical differences between the sexes. It is often used more broadly for the women's generalized envy of men or their characteristics.

pe·nis en·vy

the psychoanalytic concept in which a female envies male characteristics or capabilities, especially the possession of a penis.

penis envy

The supposed wish of a girl or woman to have a penis, postulated in Freudian psychoanalytic theory as causing psychic conflict that drives female psychosexual development and results in psychological disorders if not resolved.

penis envy

literally, female envy of the male penis, but generally a female wish for male attributes, position, and advantages. It is believed by some psychologists to be a significant factor in female personality development. Compare castration anxiety.

penis envy

Psychiatry The unconscious desire by ♀ to have a penis which, per psychoanalysts, corresponds to an unresolved castration complex. Cf Oedipus complex.

pe·nis en·vy

(pēnis envē)

Psychoanalytic concept that a female envies male characteristics or capabilities, especially the possession of a penis.

penis envy

The Freudian concept that all women have a repressed wish to have a penis and resent the fact that they are incomplete men. The idea is no longer taken seriously.

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References in periodicals archive ?

The persistent misapplication of the penis envy concept has corresponded, in theory and in practice, to a failure to appreciate the manifold ways in which an anxiety about damage and mutilation of her own genitals and reproductive organs enter into a female's psychological plights.

In "Castration" (1991), Leo Rangell, citing Freud, analogizes the feminine wish in men to penis envy in women.

Thus, the psychoanalytic concept of penis envy, Sandler's "innate penis schema," Rangell's employment of it at that point in his paper on castration, even--or especially--a female's fantasy of her own genital lack, may represent the evocation of a fantasy of absence in order to screen out a presence that would arouse anxiety.

The intractable idea that penis envy and the masculine protest are the bedrock of female psychology, has functioned as an intellectual fetish that hides the true gold that might lie above, beneath, or alongside this supposed bedrock.

Female castration anxiety

In other words, I theorize that the otherwise virtually inexplicable train of thought of penis envy etc.

Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel (1976, 285) accepts the notion of penis envy but understands the desire to have the penis as a female's defense against the frightening power of the mother (cf.

Jewish masochism: couvade, castration, and rabbis in pain

The good news too is that money envy is a lot more easily treated than penis envy.

Philippa Davies is a top psychologist to prime ministers and cabinet ministers

Some people suffer penis envy, but for me it's nose envy.

To pull the girls, these blokes rely on just one tiny part of their body

I'm concerned, of course, about the lengths to which some women will go in the spirit of penis envy.