The castration complex can be applied profitably to femine psychology. There is an abundance of ideas and phantasies attended by strong emotions dealing with the possession or lack of a penis, the injury involved in being a woman, the desire to be a man, active and passive mutilative experiences. The agreement of these ideas with the castration complex of men is unmistakable.

It is not easy to understand how the offshoots of fear of castration can appear in women even though this fear in its original form can never have existed. The nucleus of the castration complex in women is penis envy but this information throws no light upon the fear. It is necessary to expand Freud's scheme of the castration complex to make place for and give an explanation of castration fear in women.

Our first clue comes from those cases in which a vigorous 'masculinity complex' develops on the basis of early penis envy. The little girl in this instance becomes fixed in her belief that she is a boy; ignores the evidence