The Sense of Femaleness

It is possible that Freud's view of the development of femininity in women is incorrect. He looked upon femininity as a secondary, reparative stage always following upon an earlier awareness of genital inferiority and penis envy. It is suggested, however, that the earliest phase of women's femininity—the core gender identity—is the simple acceptance of body ego, 'I am female'. Only later will this be covered over by penis envy, identification with males, and the other signs of femininity in disrepair with which analysts are so familiar.

This core of femininity develops regardless of chromosomal state or anatomy of the genitalia so long as the parents have no doubt their infant is a female. To explore this thesis, several types of patients are described: 1, females without vaginas but otherwise biologically normal; 2, females who are biologically neuter but whose external genitalia at birth looked normal so that no doubt was raised in their parents' minds as to the sex of the infant; 3, females, biologically normal except for masculinization of their external genitalia (but with vaginas), who were reared unquivocally as girls; 4, females who are biologically normal except for masculinization of their external genitalia (but with vaginas) who were reared unequivocally as boys. Some speculations and anthropological data are presented with regard to a fifth category, females who are biologically normal but without a clitoris.