discussion #8

Your text writes about Freud's psychosexual stages and mentions the Oedipus complex but doesn't go into detail. Nor does it go into detail on the female version, the Electra Complex. Here is an 'Utne Reader' version. Oedipal Complex: during the phallic stage, the boy begins to desire the mother, the person who has been most intimately involved with his previous psychosexual stages (oral & anal). This is the stage at which little boys become very clingy to their mothers. The problem is that someone already has Mom - Dad! So, the kid has a rival, but a rival 3 times his size. (I'm going to ignore all of Freud's castration complex theories here). The boy has a choice, compete against an all-powerful rival or try to neutralize the threat of this rival by becoming his buddy. The boy knows he can't beat Dad, so when Dad starts mowing the lawn, there the little boy is with his Fisher-Price lawn mower. When Dad works on the house, there the little boy is with his Fisher-Price tool kit. In the process of becoming Dad's 'little buddy', the boy learns from dad the 'rules' of the culture for a man. He learns what the right things to do are and what the wrong things to do are. Of course, one of these rules is that you don't mess with your buddy's girl, so Mom is now off-limits. Freud called this the 'identification process' and said the boy will 'internalize' these rules, thus developing a super-ego - AKA, a sense of morality. The Electra Complex is different. The girl realizes that men (particularly Dad) have a penis, while she does not. By observing the interactions between Mom and Dad, the girl quickly realizes that the penis equals power. She wants power (the famous 'penis-envy') and, again from watching the interactions between mom and dad, realizes that whatever power mom has comes from Dad's penis - the role of mother. O.K., I know that this sound weird, but throughout history (and even today in many cultures), a woman who can't provide a male heir could be divorced, banished, or even killed and replaced. So traditionally, a woman's power did come from her ability to have children - thus from Dad's penis. So the girl wants to share Dad's penis (power) with him. However, Mom is already sharing Dad's penis, so Mom becomes the rival. Unlike in the Oedipus Complex where the boy fears the all-powerful rival, the little girl knows that Mom doesn't have any real power so she doesn't fear Mom. She doesn't have to become Mom's little buddy. Instead, she observes what Mom does to 'get' Dad and she starts imitating Mom. This is the age of Suzy Homemaker Ovens and getting into Mom's makeup and jewelry. NOTE that the girl is doing this without Mom's help or participation. Well, according to Freud, the little girl's imitation strategies won't end up with her getting Dad (we hope) and her desire for Dad's penis (power) will gradually fade. Freudians thought that women would settle for a penis (power) substitute - a baby, preferably a male baby. The little girl would begin playing with dolls as a representative of that penis substitute until they could have a real baby. Again, before you say "balderdash", think of how women traditionally got power - by producing a male child. Well and good, but with imitation instead of identification, Freud felt that girls would develop a weak superego at best. He felt that they had a lesser moral sense.