The stated purpose of this collection of eight papers on early female development is threefold: to present new concepts of early female development; to compare these with traditional formulations; to illuminate aspects of the development of identifications, narcissistic development, and the separation-individuation process through their interface with female psychosexual development. In addition to fulfilling its objective, this volume makes a valuable contribution insofar as it strengthens the psychoanalytic position on several issues that have been the subject of much recent controversy in society generally as well as in professional circles.

As we know, the climate of the women's movement has resulted in widespread criticism of the Freudian position concerning female development. The notion of femininity as a secondary, defensive formulation is probably the Freudian concept that has been most widely criticized as being phallocentric and therefore denigrating