Abstract
Dio Bleichmar E. What is the Role of Gender in Hysteria? Int Forum Psychoanal 1992;1:155-162. Stockholm. ISSN 0803-706X
What is the role of gender in hysteria? Incorporating the concept of gender into the model of psychosexual development makes it possible to: (a) study the symbolic dimension of femininity; (b) position gender as a main representation of the Ego Ideal-Ideal Ego narcissistic system; (c) observe how these structures, and other Superego structures, follow different courses and achieve different forms of organization according to gender. The difference and specificity of father's seduction and mother's seduction is used to explain the difficulties in the declination of the Oedipus complex, and the repression of sexuality in girls (findings based on Laplanche's review of Freud's theory about the role of the adult in the origin of human sexuality). The importance of the father's sexual gaze for the development of feelings of shame in girls is taken into account. Some hysterical symptoms are understood in terms of the deep opposition that dominates over the relationship between femininity and self-esteem and between female sexuality and femininity.