ABSTRACT
Questioning why it is that female genitalia and desire are viewed in psychoanalytic theory as hidden, inaccessible, and lacking, this chapter examines 1) female genital representation, 2) girls’ erotically desirous relationships to their mothers, and 3) the nature of women’s experience in sexuality. It is proposed that the marker “absent” regarding female genitalia and desire may be a particular female form of protection against “castration” of sexual desire; males inflate whereas females may deflate their genital representation and desire. Girls’ experiences of object loss, in conjunction with female anatomical structure, may lead to a particular genital anxiety regarding openness and emptiness. The relational void in giving up the mother as love object may lead to an internal self-representation of a “hole” to be filled, like the mouth sucks the pacifier in the absence of the nipple. In turning to the father, a girl may find that she lacks a relationship with her father in the relational space opened up by the loss of the mother. Vaginal repression may serve to disguise object hunger that might be experienced as vaginal longing. An abbreviated clinical vignette, revolving around a masturbatory fantasy, is offered in illustration of the thesis.
