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The question of vaginal sensation in early childhood is still controversial. The girl seems to fuse vaginal excitations with sensations from other zones, and to project vaginal tensions to the outside of her body. Unable to experience direct vaginal discharge and unable to master vaginal excitations by active exploration, she tends to externalize her wish for mastery. She finds a suitable substitute for the lack of an organ of discharge in the baby doll. Denial sets in when these mechanisms break down. Where vaginal sensations threaten to invade consciousness repression may ensue. At the end of the phallic stage during which the baby wish has become attached to the penis wish, the inside of the female child is recathected as the girl wishes to be penetrated and hopes to receive a baby. Further repression may ensue at the end of the oedipal stage.
Various fusions and externalizations of early vaginal excitations contribute to the changing image of the girl's inside, which is later used for the development of the image of the vagina as an organ. Successive oral, anal, baby, and phallic representations merge with the final more realistic image of the vagina. Each of these representations contributes to adult maternal functioning. The oral representation, modelled after the primal cavity, fosters the incorporation wish which initiates pregnancy; the anal image contributes to the retentive aspects of pregnancy; anal and urethral images may serve as a model for expulsion in delivery; the baby image enhances the mother's protective role; the early female-baby concept (akin to the transitional object conceived as a projection of the self), coupled with the later penis-baby image make it possible for a mother to accept female and male children. Fantasies concerning the clitoris may underlie the maternal concern with the steady growth of her child. The many times in which the girl gives up her hope for a baby during early development, may prepare her for the cycles