ABSTRACT
Donald Wood Winnicott's conception of a self composed of several parts leads him to discussions that are among the most difficult of his theories. This is the case for what he calls "masculine elements" and "feminine elements". This chapter deals with two modes of thought: the Freudian mode, which favours repression, and the Ferenczian–Kleinian mode, which favours the splitting. Dissociation does not function like repression. In the process of repression, there is a conflict between the instances of the ego. It expresses that the conflicting states—of repression—are recognised by the acting out, whereas the dissociated states—of splitting—are represented, take place, in the subject's life. Fantasying is to fantasy what photography is to life. It is an image in black and white, drained of all fantasy. It is an activity closed off, a logjam, where everything becomes blurred as if in a grey, foggy drizzle.
