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IN RECENT YEARS CONSIDERABLE ATTENTION HAS BEEN GIVEN TO the issue of female sexual development. This has meant another look at prevailing theories and observational data on children. While we struggle to answer questions about the normal process of female development and its variations, we look to our psychoanalytic work with children to see if it affords us any clues that might help in this investigation.
This paper describes the analysis of a latency girl. Her family was very concerned that she might develop a hereditary deforming bone disease which her father had. As is likely, her parents gave her conflicting messages about whether this disease was a major problem. This girl had significant concerns about being damaged, and at the time her analysis began had failed to consolidate an age-appropriate female identity. She also had a learning inhibition and an inhibition of physical activity, both of which significantly interfered with her development.
Recent papers about gender identity development suggest that girls, from birth, begin a learning process from their parents and the environment that decisively determines their sense