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There has been little discussion about woman’s envy of other women in the psychoanalytic literature, due to shame and guilt that malevolent feelings evoke in women. Envious strivings are not in accordance with female ego-ideals. Freud’s theory of penis envy has aroused much criticism. He wrote mainly about women’s envy of men. Klein maintained that breast envy is constitutional and primary, which has evoked protest, too. She wrote about universal envy of woman.
Shame dynamics as instigators of envy are emphasized in this paper. Comparisons with others’ self-confidence and happiness may lead to feelings of inferiority and humiliation. One wants to return the balance of one’s self-esteem with various mechanisms: devaluing, spoiling or destroying the enviable. The emergence of shame in the girl’s laborious process of gaining separateness from her mother is illustrated with the myth of Kore/Persephone. Envy may be benign or malignant. The case of Jenni illustrates a pregnant analysand’s bitter envy of her pregnant analyst. Malicious envy of other women’s attractiveness, sexuality and pleasure in the primal scene is discussed in the myth of Athena and Medusa. Working through unconscious envy and aggression can contribute to construction of feminine pleasure, creativity and women as subjects.