Psychosexual Development: Criticism of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development

Despite their popularity among psychoanalytical psychologists, Freud’s psychosexual theories are commonly criticized as being sexist. Freud’s theories were often informed by his own introspection and self-analysis, and thus were infused with an inherently male perspective, resulting in a great deal of criticism from feminists as well as from gender theory practitioners. He had difficulty incorporating female desire into his theories and attempted to provide a theoretical explanation for feminine psychosexual development only rather late in his career.[5] He personally confessed a lack of understanding of female sexuality and did not hold out hope that psychology would ever explain the phenomenon.

Karen Horney: Neo-Freudianism

While Horney acknowledged and agreed with Freud on many issues, she was also critical of him on several key beliefs. Freud’s notion of “penis envy” in particular was subject to criticism by Horney.[6] She thought Freud had merely stumbled upon women’s jealousy of men’s generic power in the world. Horney accepted that penis envy might occur occasionally in neurotic women, but stated that “womb envy” occurs just as much in men: Horney felt that men were envious of a woman’s ability to bear children. The degree to which men are driven to success may be merely a substitute for the fact that they cannot carry, nurture and bear children.