Beyond Pregenital Determination of Femininity and Masculinity (Discussion)¹

Abstract

Sies C. Beyond Pregenital Determination of Femininity and Masculinity (Discussion). Int Forum Psychoanal 1992; 1: 148-150. Stockholm. ISSN 0803-706X

The most interesting interpretations by Ludvig Igra do not deal with the differences between man and woman from my perspective. It seems rather that pregenital qualities, which determine the primary scene, are defined as typically feminine or masculine. As long as concepts like “doing” and “being”, “active” and “passive”, “to penetrate” or “being penetrated” are attributed to man and woman, respectively, the battle between the sexes cannot end. As long as parents and therapists deny “being” as anything typical for the male, man will feel forced to act and will not be able to integrate the capacity to feel and stay, to accept and to be fertile. As long as for a woman the capacity to penetrate is regarded as a form of phallicity, this will diminish or even destroy her ability to fertilize, to stimulate and to break through, where break-throughs are necessary.