ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that normal superego structuralization and experience for both men and women are directly linked to the palatability of the same-sex parent as an identification figure. The superego concept is a very complex and confused one in Freud’s original writings, which often vacillate between a view of its inherently prohibitive and ego-restrictive aspects and a more benign, ego-nourishing, narcissistically enriching, and essentially protective view of its functions. At each maturational and developmental step, the experiential attitudes of the object representational world are critical both for the shaping of adequate ego ideal and superego internalizations and for the formation of a coherent and narcissistically pleasurable sense of gender identity. The superego can thus be viewed as a structural end product requiring positive identificatory experiences, particularly with the same-sex parent. A solid superego development is intrinsically related to gender identification.
