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These panels constituted the first half of a series of four to be devoted to an appraisal of current analytic thinking regarding the psychology of women. In these two panels, important and provocative new developments were presented from both biological and psychological studies, much of which has not yet been integrated within the framework of general psychoanalytic theory and practice.
The blending of psychological and biological viewpoints was adumbrated in Robert J. Stoller's introduction to the first panel. Stating that Freud's lack of knowledge concerning the earliest stages of female development had led him to view penis envy as the original factor in the unfolding femininity, Stoller expressed a strong impression that we shall suffer a historical failure if we do not advance our ideas to take in the newer discoveries that modify Freud's ideas, especially his degrading views on femininity. New data concerning prenatal origins of sexuality relate to the discovery that the original state of mammalian tissue is female rather than male, and that the addition of androgens during fetal life is necessary for the development of both anatomical and psychological maleness. A second body of new research, loosely labeled "learning