ABSTRACT
One of the dominant themes of the recent manifestation of the men's movement is breaking down the constraints of alienation and isolation that is the common experience of so many men. The Oedipus complex serves to provide men with very strongly developed superegos, the internalized voices of paternal authority. Freud uses these observations as a basis for conclusions about women's lesser moral character and lesser ability to be objective: "I cannot evade the notion that for women the level of what is ethically normal is different from what it is in men. Their super-ego is never so inexorable, so impersonal, so independent of its emotional origins as men require it to be in men". Freud's psychological framework for the establishment of masculinity is heavily predicated on not being a woman. The author wishes to look at specific aspects of separation in the raising of boys in our culture.
