ABSTRACT
I make no apology for beginning this chapter on anatomy from a psychoanalytic point of view since it is really the whole purpose of writing the book. The psychoanalyst Michael Parsons writes about there being a biological basis to our physical sexual beings. But he explains that it depends on how a particular society interprets what they find to determine how they understand it: “The nature of sexuality depends on how its irreducible biological basis is interpreted by a particular society at a particular time” (Parsons, 2000b, p. 37). He is referring to sexuality, but first, “irreducibility” does not allow for the evolutionary development from one species to another that will become relevant during this chapter. Theory follows a similar though speedier path, where change is at least demonstrable within a generation or two. Parsons uses the concept of a developmental stage and the way Klein changes it into a position as an important psychoanalytic example of what he is saying. What I find fascinating is that he is writing at a time when an important part of that biological basis, namely the structure of the clitoris, is actually being re-interpreted but he does not mention it, perhaps preferring not to draw attention to it.
