When the little girl is able to perceive and acknowledge the significance of the anatomic differences between the sexes, she also painfully recognizes that “she lacks what he has to gratify mother genitally.” This discovery occurs during the latter part of the negative oedipal subphase, that is, when the girl's erotic feelings are centered on mother. Consequently, the girl feels deprived, angry, very sad, and envious because she does not have a penis. The girl subsequently fears the loss of her mother's love, and possibly even the loss of mother, her primary love object. The latter is expressed in fears of abandonment. It thus appears that penis envy is motivated by the conscious and unconscious fear of losing the love of the loved mother.