Electra complex
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The Electra complex is an ambiguous psychiatric concept which attempts to explain the maturation of the human female. Freud's research on female psychology, sexuality in particular, was limited by social conventions of gender and class; women were considered the 'second-sex' and many of his female patients were labeled 'degenerates.'1 The Electra complex was created as the female counterpart to the Oedipus complex in males. Its name comes from the Greek myth of Electra, who wanted her brother to avenge their father Agamemnon's death by killing their mother Clytemnestra.
Carl Jung proposed the name Electra complex for Sigmund Freud's concept of the "feminine Oedipus attitude" in young girls.2 According to Sigmund Freud, the girl is originally attached to the mother as well; however, when she discovers that she lacks a penis during the phallic stage the daughter becomes libidinally attached to her father and imagines that she will become pregnant by him, while becoming more hostile towards her mother. This is due mostly to the idea of "penis envy" - that the girl is envious of her father's penis. She believes that the pregnancy would replace the missing penis which she envies and would allow her to gain equal status with the father.
According to this theory, a young girl's penis envy leads to resentment towards her mother, whom the girl believes caused her "castration." Some psychologists claim the male psyche is the dominant entity in human relations. This has been refuted by recent studies, as women have less castration anxiety than men and are able to deal with their frustration more openly because of societal conventions.[1]
The belief that women are phychologically subordinate may be due in part to the phallocentric belief that females have a weaker superego, where theorectically morality is developed and values internalized. This judicial component of human personality is developed during the phallic stage. A dominant view of the male psyche may also be rooted in the habits of a phallocentric social system, such as those descended from patriarchal cultures and family systems. In later life, so the theory goes, the girl will grow into the character type that her mother has developed as a means to attracting a man similar to her father.
Furthermore, if there is a "perversion" in the development of females or if their aggression is somehow stifled, resentment can in turn be displaced towards the dominant male (the father) or patriarchal cultures in general. Some say this explains lesbianism and feminism (though this is far from universally accepted, as it unsupportedly assumes that women loving and/or supporting equality for other women requires an animosity toward men and an inherent perversity in their nature).
[edit] References
1.Suzanne. Freud, the Feminist? Duquesne University.
Breuer, J & Freud, S. Studies on Hysteria. (1909). Basic Books.
DeBeauvoir, S. (1952). The Second Sex. New York: Vintage Books.
Freud, S. (1905). Dora: Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. New York: WW Norton & Company.
Freud, S. (1920). “A Case of Homosexuality in a Woman”. The Complete Psychological Works of
2. Jung, Carl. "Psychoanalysis and Neurosis" , Collected Works of C. G. Jung, 4, Princeton University Press, 1970. (pars. 557-75).
Sigmund Freud. New York: Hogarth Press.
Lauzen, G. (1965). Sigmund Freud: The Man and his Theories. New York: Paul S. Eriksson, Inc.
Lerman, H. (1986). A Mote in Freud’s Eye. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Mitchell, J. (1974). Psychoanalysis and Feminism. New York: Vintage Books.
[edit] See also
da:Elektrakompleks de:Elektrakomplex es:Complejo de Electra fr:Complexe d’Électre he:תסביך אלקטרה nl:Electracomplex ja:エレクトラコンプレックス pl:Kompleks Elektry pt:Complexo de Electra
