Freud and Female Sexuality—A Current View

Freud was relatively modest about his contributions to the understanding of female sexuality and feminine psychology. Repeatedly he noted the incompleteness of his knowledge and the uncertainty of his findings (see Strachey, 1961, p. 244); (Fliegel, 1973, p. 389), calling attention to the need for additional information which might come from biology and chemistry, the intuitive insights of writers and women analysts, individual experience and the influence of culture. In the 70 years since the appearance of Freud's first definitive discussion of sexuality in his 'Three Essays' (1905), there have indeed been significant advances relating to the subject in other scientific fields as well as in psychoanalysis. Nevertheless, his ideas still have cogency, and their continuing relevancy to clinical data has made many of his theoretical concepts enduringly useful. Their application still constitutes the major part of our work in psychoanalysis. There are bases for dissent about others, however, which warrant an attempt at reassessment and integration of his views with new developments in ego psychology, direct child observation, biology and physiology. The recognition of this fact by the Programme Committee prompted this dialogue as well as the re-examinations that have been going on in other scientific forums.

In the Editor's Note to Freud's (1925) paper Strachey (1961) has adequately reviewed the development of Freud's theories concerning female sexuality, and I have summarized the final form of his views in an earlier publication (Moore, 1964). While it would be useful to specify just what Freud said and at what time in relation to current scientific knowledge, in order to point out the modifications he made and the many distortions of his statements by others, this would necessitate a comprehensive review of the literature beyond the scope of this paper. I shall, therefore, limit specific reference to his comments and devote uneven attention to various subjects