This essay spans the range from the fundamental concepts of psychoanalytic theory to the epigenetic phenomena of sociocultural processes that involve the relationship between the sexes.

Ambivalence is defined as the psychic representation of the two poles of instinctual energy: active = positive, passive = negative. Sexual drive, the psychic representation of the sexual instinct, is potentially ambivalent. It is assumed that an ambivalent emotional state, experienced by primitive men, means danger from within, activates defense against the sexual drive; thus the primary repression of the sexual drive precedes the evolution of conflict. The psychological consequence of primary ambivalence is emotional ambivalence that involves ambivalent attitudes toward the object of the drive. The primary instinctual conflicts are examined in the