Matthew Gates 4m 1,090
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
This post is strictly opinion.
Freud analyzed the Oedipal Complex, which came from a Greek story called Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles around 410-420 BCE.
It states that:
“Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father. In the course of his psychosexual development, the complex is the boy’s phallic stage formation of a discrete sexual identity; a girl’s analogous experience is the Electra complex. The Oedipus complex occurs in the third — phallic stage (ages 3–6) — of five psychosexual development stages: (i) the Oral, (ii) the Anal, (iii) the Phallic, (iv) the Latent, and (v) the Genital — in which the source libido pleasure is in a different erogenous zone of the infant’s body.
In classical, Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the child’s identification with the same-sex parent is the successful resolution of the Oedipus complex and of the Electra complex; his and her key psychological experience to developing a mature sexual role and identity. Sigmund Freud further proposed that girls and boys resolved their complexes differently — he via castration anxiety, she via penis envy; and that unsuccessful resolutions might lead to neurosis, paedophilia, and homosexuality. Hence, men and women who are fixated in the Oedipal and Electra stages of their psychosexual development might be considered “mother-fixated” and “father-fixated” as revealed when the mate (sexual partner) resembles the mother or the father.” – Wikipedia
He also devised the Electra Complex which states:
“In Neo-Freudian psychology, the Electra complex, as proposed by Carl Gustav Jung, is a girl’s psychosexual competition with mother for possession of father. In the course of her psychosexual development, the complex is the girl’s phallic stage formation of a discrete sexual identity; a boy’s analogous experience is the Oedipus complex. The Electra complex occurs in the third — phallic stage (ages 3–6) — of five psychosexual development stages: (i) the Oral, (ii) the Anal, (iii) the Phallic, (iv) the Latent, and (v) the Genital — in which the source libido pleasure is in a different erogenous zone of the infant’s body.
In classical psychoanalytic theory, the child’s identification with the same-sex parent is the successful resolution of the Electra complex and of the Oedipus complex; his and her key psychological experience to developing a mature sexual role and identity. Sigmund Freud instead proposed that girls and boys resolved their complexes differently — she via penis envy, he via castration anxiety; and that unsuccessful resolutions might lead to neurosis, paedophilia, and homosexuality. Hence, women and men who are fixated in the Electra and Oedipal stages of their psychosexual development might be considered “father-fixated” and “mother-fixated” as revealed when the mate (sexual partner) resembles the father or the mother.” – Wikipedia
Freud also stated that women have penis envy.
“Penis envy in Freudian psychoanalysis refers to the theorized reaction of a girl during her psychosexual development to the realization that she does not have a penis. Freud considered this realization a defining moment in the development of gender and sexual identity for women. According to Freud, the parallel reaction in boys to the realization that girls do not have a penis is castration anxiety.” – Wikipedia
Quite a few years after this, Karen Horney, who is often praised by feminists, re-examined both these complexes and came up with a new theory: Womb Envy and Vagina Envy.
This almost sounds like it’s a battle of the sexes, doesn’t it?
Penis Envy and Womb and Vagina Envy will be saved for another discussion.
For now, this is my re-analysis in my attempts to not be sexist. I tried to approach this from a male perspective, a female perspective, and a non-gendered objective perspective.
On the Oedipal Complex:
There may be a misunderstanding of the Oedipal Complex.
For Freud it was considered sexual. However many disagree. In actuality, for males, the mother is the only female to understand them and accept them for who they are. This enables a man to love his mother in a very loving and understanding way. This may or may not be considered sexual. The male’s hatred towards the father is not because of the mother but rather the lack of love which is not the same as the mother’s love.
This is the same for the Electra complex, whether the mother is more present in the female child’s life or not. The pattern comes back into play.
The young female has an attraction for the older male, her father. She feels safety and security around him which her mother cannot offer in the same way as her father can.
For an older male, the father, he feels confident and very well loved and falls in love with his daughter. For the mother, in taking care of her son, the mother is provided with a sense of safety and security knowing that these two combinations equal love and she falls in love with her son.
For the young male, he feels as if he is providing security and safety for his mother which brings on an attraction towards his mother and vice versa. This may or may not be interpreted to mean a sexual sense. This pattern continues through life, whether it is the literal mother or father or the aspect envisioned in another individual person.
Sometimes the complete opposite may occur, as humans are attracted to complete opposites of their parents, meaning the male finds someone who is completely opposite of his mother and the female finds someone completely opposite of her father. The reality of it is still the same and not an actual opposite because the male is still looking to care for a female and provide a sense of security and safety for her and receive the sense of warm love. The female is looking for a male to provide a sense of safety and security for her while also providing that love.
This is just a theory and attempts to cover all bases: the young male view, the older male view, the young female view, and the older female view.
It’s unfortunate that psychology has been long dominated by males, and too much bias was introduced. Then feminist theory came along, and attempted to bring back equality into the picture, but soon, extreme feminists entered the scene, and equality was lost, and there ensued a battle of the sexes once again. But that is for another article.
This is the twist of the Oedipal Complex.
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