Reflections on The Sexual Dilemma of The Phallic Female: Biologic Considerations*

The object of this study is to seek to understand and to explain the difficulties the phallic female experiences in adjusting to the feminine role in sexual behavior. Attention is directed to the two different aims that are operative in the act of sex: the desire of the individual human for pleasure and the goal of the forces of nature to effect propagation and thus the survival of the species. An attempt is made to establish under which conditions these seemingly disparate interests are harmoniously reconciled and under which conditions they work at cross purposes and lead to maladjustment. Since the clitoris is the predominant organ of sexual pleasure in the phallic female it seems important to try to establish, through a study of the embryologic development of the female, how and why, in contrast to the male, she was left endowed with bisexual, androgynous organs, a potential source of conflicting functions and thus of maladjustment. While the emphasis here is on biologic factors, the crucial significance of psychic factors in the determination of sexual behavior is not overlooked. Obviously, since various females with the same anatomical endowment behave differently in the sexual sphere, psychic factors must have a decisive influence; nevertheless, the anatomical structuring of the female is considered a predisposing element toward the development of maladjustment in the sexual sphere.

In a panel discussion of Frigidity in Women (Moore, 1961) Helene Deutsch pointed out that the female sexual apparatus consists of