It was the purpose of this paper to establish the concept of a feminine identity and in the process to resolve the two tasks proposed by Freud: to link the renunciation of clitoridal sexuality, a problem of the libidinal-drive organization, with the associated problem in object relations; the necessity of the preoedipal girl to relinquish her maternal attachment and develop a heterosexual object relation in the oedipal conflict.

The concept of identity is based upon the integrity of ego structure, which in turn is rooted in the physiological and biological structure of man. Feminine identity as the expression of the personality of the female of the mammalian species is largely influenced by the characteristics which differentiate that species, the maternal lactating function and the intra-uterine gestation of the fetus.