Phallic

monism Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...

is a term introduced by Chasseguet-Smirgel to refer to the theory that in both sexes the male organ—i.e. the question of possessing the penis or not—was the key to

psychosexual development In psychoanalysis, psychosexual development is a central element of the sexual drive theory. According to Freud, personality develops through a series of childhood stages in which pleasure-seeking energies from the child become focused on certa ...

. The theory was upheld by

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

. His critics maintain it was a result of an unconscious adherence to an infantile sexual theory.

Freud

Freud identified as the central theme of the

phallic stage In Freudian psychoanalysis, the phallic stage is the third stage of psychosexual development, spanning the ages of three to six years, wherein the infant's libido (desire) centers upon their genitalia as the erogenous zone. When children become ...

a state of mind in which "''maleness'' exists, but not femaleness. The antithesis here is between having ''a male genital'' and being castrated". He believed that the mind-set was shared both by little boys and little girls—a viewpoint shared by the orthodox strand of his following, as epitomised for example in the work of

Otto Fenichel Otto Fenichel (; 2 December 1897, Vienna – 22 January 1946, Los Angeles) was an Austrian psychoanalyst of the so-called "second generation". He was born into a prominent family of Jewish lawyers. Education and psychoanalytic affiliations Otto ...

. Freud considered such phallic monism to be at the core of neurosis to the very end of his career.

Critics

Trenchant early criticism of Freud's monism was made by

Karen Horney Karen Horney (; ; ; 16 September 1885 – 4 December 1952) was a German psychoanalyst who practiced in the United States during her later career. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views. This was particularly true of her theories ...

, who suggested that the psychoanalytic view had itself become fixated at the level of the small boy aggrandising himself at his sister's expense.

Ernest Jones Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first En ...

too was quick to maintain that woman was not, as Freud seemed to suggest, "''un homme manqué''...struggling to console herself with secondary substitutes alien to her true nature".

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...

reformulated Freud's phallic monism through his theory of the phallus as signifier; but Kleinians, post-Kleinians, and those influenced by

second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades, ending with the feminist sex wars in the early 1980s and being replaced by third-wave feminism in the early 1990s. It occurred ...

have all articulated a more positive view of femininity, articulating the belief in phallic monism as a survival into adulthood of a (male) infantile sexual theory. Phallic monism has also been linked to

sexual fetishism Sexual fetishism is a sexual fixation on an object or a body part. The object of interest is called the fetish; the person who has a fetish is a fetishist. A sexual fetish may be regarded as a mental disorder if it causes significant psychoso ...

, fueled by an over-aggressive

super-ego In psychoanalytic theory, the id, ego, and superego are three distinct, interacting agents in the psychic apparatus, outlined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche. The three agents are theoretical constructs that Freud employed t ...

.Alan Bass, ''Difference and Disavowal'' (2000) p. 31-2 and p. 203-4

References

External links

Infant sexuality
Critical theory Feminist theory Freudian psychology Human penis {{sex-stub

Freud

Critics

See also

References

Further reading

External links