ABSTRACT
The core of the idea of gender is that boys, as much as girls, recognise and identify with the father and mother, and are recognised and identified by the father and mother as a boy or girl who is the same as or different from themselves. This idea is based on the intersubjective structure which configures femininity and masculinity from birth to adulthood, since male and female traits are psychologically open and identity changes throughout life. A review of the literature shows that quite a number of authors understand that gender identity includes well differentiated representations of the mother's and of the father's body before the child comes to terms with the difference between sexes. Greek and Roman myths, and publicity and movies are as modern factories of them, place women as the main symbol of sexual pleasure. Women are used as the most powerful symbol of masculine sexual stimulation, whereas the reality in female subjectivity is quite another matter.
