ABSTRACT
Meta-theories on sexual difference organise implicit and explicit, private and consensual theories, as well as beliefs and intuitions possibly burdened with a heavy ideological component. In S. Freud’s works, subject–object polarity is implicated in concepts concerning sexual difference. He considers that only at puberty does the vagina come into consideration as a lodging for the penis, thereby establishing a passive position for the woman. The hysteric’s seductive games, kindling desire and then refusing, remained associated with the concept of enigma and “dark continent”. The hysterisation of the feminine is at the base of the concept of penis envy and theories that interpret the feminine position from an androcentric viewpoint and generalise it to all women. A thin, porous line separates the feminine as a principle from the feminine equated with the maternal, the feminine equated with women, the feminine on the level of identifications and desires, and the feminine as qualities in women and men.
