ABSTRACT
Freudian proposals on sexual difference and masculine–feminine polarity have permeated psychoanalytic production up to and including the present by either agreeing or disagreeing with them. The concept of primary masculinity in girls was one of the most disputed and was expressed in the widely known Freud-Jones debate. However, in French psychoanalysis and through its theoretical influence in other regions, Freudian proposal was emphasised and developed with greater sophistication by the Lacanian tendency. Although for Jacques Lacan the feminine position may be occupied by men as well as women, it is obvious that the “feminine” label manifests its connotation alluding to its relation to women. Throughout, S. Freud’s proposals on bisexuality and those of D. W. Winnicott on primary femininity in both men and women were never abandoned. Gender theories were developed in the context of the Anglo Saxon culture whereas in French culture theories on sexual difference predominated.
