You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
If, as in classical Freudian theory, the body is fundamental in shaping experience, how does the female body shape female experience? In looking at this question, Doris Bernstein sets aside the orthodox centrality of the lack of a penis to concentrate on the sensations, affects and anxieties that seem to arise during the course of female genital integration. She examines their role in the girl's development and in the psychic lives of the women she treats, without falling into a reductionistic stance where genital anatomy is seen as the sole force structuring destiny. Female Identity Conflict in Clinical Practice is a collection of essays published posthumously by Bernstein's colleagues. Her legacy, as it pervades this book, is the conviction that in its effort to be helpful to women, psychoanalysis must be grounded in a detailed understanding of specifically female psychology.
Bernstein examines the little girl's experience of her genitals. She notes that while the girl can explore the labia and introitus, she cannot readily see the vagina or clitoris and has no access to more interior structures. When she touches herself, the sensation spreads within the genital, pelvic and anal regions. According to Bernstein, it is therefore more difficult for the girl than for the boy to develop a discrete image of her genitals. Additionally, while the girl is taking control of her anal sphincters during toilet training, she can neither close nor open her vagina and may develop fears of being penetrated. Bernstein writes that in coming to terms with her anatomy, the girl's task is to “comprehend, integrate, and locate what is beyond sight, touch, focus, and control” (Bernstein, 1993, p. 48).
Bernstein gives examples both of children and of adult women engaged in this process. In discussing confusion about the location and functioning of the female genitals, she gives the following vignette:
[A woman] dreamed that there was a snake in her apartment; she was scared and didn't know w