Feminine Psychology: A Review

The Publication of this beautifully written volume of papers is most timely. Although dating from 1922 to 1936, they have a surprisingly modern ring and a stimulating pertinence to current problems and interests. The papers center around two general themes: first, a reconsideration of the classical psychoanalytic ideas of female sexual development and, second, an attempt to include in this picture the social factors brought to bear on women and the way in which these combine with individual psychological factors to produce the feminine psychology of our culture. These areas are both subjects of increasing current interest.

The study of female sexuality has been given a strong stimulus by the exceedingly valuable work of Masters and Johnson who have added to this field a much-needed body of observation where previously a great deal of theory prevailed. Their observations tend to confirm a number of Dr. Horney's hypotheses, and perhaps it will now be possible to incorporate far more fully her ideas and observations into psychoanalytic theory. The papers which deal most directly with female sexual development are mainly in the psychoanalytic literature. These include “On the Genesis of the Castration Complex in Women,” “The Flight From Womanhood,” “The Dread of Women,” and “The Denial of the Vagina.” In these papers she summarizes most lucidly the prevailing formulations of female sexual development, and then proceeds to take issue with certain of these theories.

To begin with, she points out that the phenomenon of penis envy requires more explanation itself than was forthcoming at the time. She distinguishes a universal primary penis envy based on some obvious advantages which the penis provides, and a secondary penis envy of far greater strength which is not universal and which she regards as a defensive, regressive phenomenon directed against oedipal conflicts. Moreover, she regards the girl as feminine from the beginning, which includes an important object relation t