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The perception of the penis as belonging to men only is a developmental achievement. The penis at first partially, if not wholly, is experienced as an element of the maternal matrix, expressed most dramatically in feminine androgynous images. As the perception of sexual differences develops but is not yet stabilized the child acknowledges that mother has no penis and fears he has castrated her with his secret hostile omnipotence. The child experiences himself to be the destructive cause of sexual differentiation. This confirms his underlying dread of hidden magical powers and momentarily threatens his developing ability to test reality. Through projective identification he fears retaliation but preserves outer reality. Deeper analysis usually reveals that this projective fear is given added force by an underlying identificatory wish to be a woman which can be traced back to envy of and the urge for fusion with the maternal.
As the integrity of the paternal penis is established, oedipal castration anxiety develops. Even when a pathological mother-image tends to fixate castration anxiety on a pre-paternal level, a good enough father may provide a strong enough, good internal masculine object to help offset magical and persecutory fears. Successful living through the castration drama on the oedipal level to a certain extent may help correct or offset an underlying personality weakness. However, where the father is the core pathological figure, attachment to the maternal castration drama is retreated to for safety and cannot be given up until the obstacles to the correction of the paternal image are diminished.