ABSTRACT
In every woman's analysis, there is inevitably a period in which appears a feeling of envy and covetousness for both the male sex organ and its symbolic equivalents. This penis envy may be simply episodic with some patients, but with others it can be central. Pseudo-desire, promulgated by envy, achieves a semblance of satisfaction, as shown in the phallic attitudes of some women, who are immersed in imitation of the other sex, or at least of the image they have of it. Penis envy will disappear by itself the day the patient no longer has that painful feeling of deficiency which caused it. If one agrees to abandon an object-oriented view of the envied penis— and to defer all questions concerning the sociocultural legitimacy of the envy—then one can undertake a truly psychoanalytical approach. The association of penis envy with conscious or unconscious hatred toward the mother is frequently observed.
