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The concepts of self-representation and object representation are among the mainstays of present-day psychoanalytic metapsychology. Yet data about the body image, this core of our self representation, which constitutes the central check point for the maintenance of our sense of
entity and identity, have not attained commensurate attention in psychoanalytic literature. For its contribution to this question alone, Löfgren's paper is of special interest. In it he deals with castration anxiety related to aspects of what he terms the "ego body", namely, "what the ego perceives as belonging to the body in which it resides".
In this necessarily far too short paper, Löfgren singles out the automatic, involuntary motility of the penis as being the main culprit that prevents integration of the representation of it within the ego body. He bases his hypothesis largely upon the fascinating but still rather controversial phenomenon of phantom delusions. He refers to the finding that phantoms—also called "sensory ghosts"—plague 98 per cent of adults (and children beyond 5 years of age) who have lost suddenly—without gradual and long-term emotional preparation—one of their extremities; and that, in contrast, penile phantoms are rather rare. He states: "Where there is no voluntary movement, there is no phantom."
The following remarks are intended to complement and further substantiate Löfgren's main thesis, namely, that the penis, through its highly autonomous and highly noticeable status, obtains an insecurely anchored object quality within the bodily self-representation and therefore may elude the synthetic function of the ego. As we know from Freud the exceptional and unique narcissistic value that the penis represents is due to its rich libidinous sensory quality, its erogeneity. Not only touch and proprioception, but also unconscious and preconscious fantasies