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Dr. Bein draws our attention to a subject which is very important in the psychology of the female. It is indeed a remarkable fact that in many females the mental representation of their genitals, particularly of the inner parts, is uncertain, hazy, and confused. This, however, is not different from the mental representations
of other inner organs in persons who have not studied anatomy. These inner organs, except if they cause pain, do not provide the sensory perceptions which are necessary for the formation of an intrapsychic representation. This is certainly true for the uterus, the Fallopian tubes, and the ovaries. It is different as far as the vagina is concerned, for the vagina provides sensations that accompany excitation and sexual tension, even in small children. However, it is certainly true, as Dr. Bein points out so well, that the absence of a visual representation and of tactile exploration in most children makes the vaginal organ representation much less distinct than that of the genitals in the boy's mind. Particularly in frigid women, when almost all pleasure sensations of the vagina are blocked, the mental representation is dim and often so little cathected that the existence of the vagina is hardly recognized.
In contrast, even if a man has developed anesthesia of the penis to the extent that he cannot even be aware of his erection through the sensory stimulation from the penis which erection normally provides, he still can see it and feel it with his hand and in this indirect way provide sensory perceptions for the intrapsychic representation of the erect penis.
But from my experience I cannot go along with Dr. Bein's opinion that the lack of a more distinct intrapsychic representation of the vagina is the essential troublemaker in the female's psychological development. My clinical material obtained from child analysis as well as from observing mothers of little girls convinced me that Freud (1925) was right when, speaking of the difference in th