A Suggested Developmental Sequence for a Preoedipal Genital Phase

Abstract

Contemporary psychoanalytic theorists have significantly altered formerly accepted hypotheses regarding female psychosexual development. They emphasize the very early roots of femininity, with the girl viewed as entering a phase of genital development out of a matrix of pre-existing sources and awarenesses of her femininity. When discussing early origins of female development, contemporary investigators stress multiple determinants such as cognitive, psycho-physiological and identificatory processes. Thus, Stoller (1976) concludes that sex assignment at birth initiates a process of core gender identification which is probably irreversible by the age of eighteen months and Kleeman (1976) emphasizes the primary, organizing effect of the child’s early linguistic ability to label herself a girl. Both theorists, plus other observers (Blum, 1976; Kestenberg, 1975; Parens et al., 1976), also consider that parental attitudes, bodily sensations and identifications with the child-bearing mother contribute to a very early feminine self-representation.