ABSTRACT

Discussion on the subject of female sexuality frequently produces dogmatic views; opinions tend to polarise. The history of sexuality has oscillated from worship of fertility goddesses to worship of the totem pole, as though creativity were dominated by one partner, and merely served by the other. This is not true biologically and, in author's view, cannot be true psychologically either. The battle of the sexes seems indeed to be one where there is a victor and a vanquished; it may take time for a reasonably stable appreciation of male and female contributions to be established. The author suggests that the unconscious awareness of the vagina would have, as precursor, the unconscious awareness of the mother having a place inside her to receive the child's projections; later this connects with the knowledge of there being a special place inside the mother to receive the father's penis and his baby.