ABSTRACT
S. Freud views the female’s progression to the father as an offshoot of conflict and feelings of castration, she must accomplish this in order to become an oedipally functioning female and have a firm sense of female gender. Freud adds that the female’s preoedipal view of the mother as seductress, depriver, or attacking harsh superego is transferred to the father and markedly colors that relationship. P. Tyson emphasizes that the quality of the mother-child relationship and the mother’s sense of female identification will largely determine the nature of the girl’s response to her awareness of the physical contrast between herself and boys. E. Galenson and H. Roiphe highlight how the recognition of the anatomical difference is an impetus for movement toward the father but may be concomitantly impeded by excessive hostility toward the mother, particularly if preoedipal castration experiences are severe.
