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The three panellists, from North and South and old and new worlds, brought together by the Congress to discuss this matter, brought very widely ranging perspectives. Yet despite these differences, they found there was much to agree upon and, at the same time, many divergences. The first panellist, Matilde Ureta Caplansky, sought to offer some ideas on female sexuality and object relationships. In essence, she sought to show that the nature of the initial relationship with the primary object—the mother—was fundamental to the form and process of object relationships later in life. But, when focusing on women, she took the position that penis envy should be considered as part of being female. This apparent desire to be like a man appears as a ‘motor element’ of becoming a woman. She emphasised that penis envy is always the envy of an idealised penis and that to be a woman entailed, in addition to the search for a penis, a separation from the pregenital mother. This task needed to be achieved without damage to either her or her maternal image.
She considered this interpretation of penis envy to be an aspect that had been little emphasised. This concerned the feminine need for individuality and autonomy that is an aspect closely related to the stability and maturity attained in the initial maternal relationship. Such is the significance of the initial object relationship that the subsequent ‘refinding of the object’ in adolescence will be heavily influenced by the early experience. To illustrate her points, Caplansky brought material from the analysis of a 36-year-old woman. The significant event in this patient's life was her mother's death from cancer when she was 12 years old. After that, her life became ‘erratic and anguish filled’.
This patient, M, sought help because of acute feelings of anxiety, a poor marital relationship and depression. She presented as a sensitive, vulnerable and desolate creature who attached herself in an adhesive way to her analyst