Passivity, according to Lomas, is not normal to women and abnormal to men but very often is an abnegation of natural, authentic development. It is the fate of the child reared in a family discouraging growth and rewarding parasitism. The belief that it is natural to women and children fosters the myth that they are inferior to men. Similarly its excessive association with men fosters a search for a spurious identity and unduly penalizes passivity in them. Current theory also wrongly assumes that the sense of identity develops primarily through identification with the parents rather than through healthy unfolding of the person's native identity in a favorable medium. On the other hand, where pathological identity is concerned the tendency is to underestimate the effect of pathogenic parental attitudes and overestimate innate factors. An analytic case presented in considerable detail is used to support the above assertions.