ABSTRACT
This is a Discussion of a paper by Malkah Notman at the 2003 Meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Factors that distinguish the female body from that of the male all through the life cycle were identified: vaginal and clitoral sensations, breast development, menstruation, defloration, orgasm and multiple orgasms, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, menopause, post-menopause, and old age. There are hormonal differences, different comforts and discomforts, and distinct inner bodily feelings. One must consider what it feels like to be inside, to see, and be seen from the outside, to possess a female body, not just visually, but kinesthetically, proprioceptively, olfactorally. All of this is incorporated into the valence, from positive to negative, of the body image. The ability to embrace and treasure being female can be sustained when women take pleasure where there is pleasure in their bodies and accept and integrate the pains and discomforts all through the life span.
