Meetings of the New York Psychoanalytic Society

November 11, 1980. MODIFICATIONS IN THE TRADITIONAL PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF FEMALE ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT. Peter Blos, Ph.D.

Classical psychoanalytic theory requires alignment with newer findings. Freud's original formulations were derived from the treatment of adults; new research in the field of direct child and infant observation forces us to take a fresh look at traditional theory. A major issue has been the question of whether femininity is a purely defensive structure, secondary to the vicissitudes of penis envy. Dr. Blos gave a careful restatement of Freud's formulations of the path toward femininity, in order to review critically some of the basic assumptions.

Current research indicates that gender identity occurs earlier than previously thought. Stoller's opinion is that core gender identity has its roots in the first year; much data also exists to the effect that neonates show observable sex-linked differences. In addition, it is now clear that genital awareness and excitability, as well as the child's awareness of genital difference, also occur at a much younger age than was previously thought. Penis envy is aroused defensively to ward off regression to and aggression against the early mother who is bound to frustrate and disappoint her child. The infantile experience of incompleteness, with the ensuing aggression toward the mother, are handled differently by boys and girls; the girl tends to deflect her aggression toward the acquisition of a body part, the penis, which merges symbolically with the representation of the lost breast. The girl's wish for the breast thus becomes shunted onto a masculine track in order to avoid the regressive pull to primary passivity and in order to avoid aggressively harming the mother. The masculinity complex as seen in adolescence reveals an unresolved ambivalence conflict with the preoedipal mother.

From working with adolescents, one sees that the most profound and obdurate complex resides in the boy's attachmen