ABSTRACT
The use of the term 'complex', first introduced into the psychoanalytic vocabulary by Carl G. Jung, can be elucidated by the concept of 'conflict’. In the context of the history of psychoanalytic theory, the notion of penis envy was designed to co-ordinate female psychology with that of men. Psychoanalytic experience forces us more and more to the conclusion that the 'masculinity complex' in women is a permanent component of their psychical structure and that it is only under definite conditions that its presence leads to neurotic phenomena. Otherwise it occurs in normal reaction formations, sublimations, character formations and other forms. The assumption that the 'masculinity complex' was a reaction to the handicap suffered by the small girl as a result of the sad fact of lacking a penis became the foundation-stone of psychoanalytic theory in the matter. This chapter mentions the two sources of femininity in men: the persistence of earlier 'passive' trends; and an identification with the mother.
