Changes

[[Freud]] first described the [[castration complex]] in 1908, arguing that the [[child]] - on discovering the [[biology|anatomical]] [[sexual difference|difference between the sexes]] -- the [[presence]] or [[absence]] of the [[penis]] - makes the assumption that this [[sexual difference|difference]] is due to the [[female]]'s [[penis]] having been cut off.<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|On the Sexual Theories of Children]]". 1908. [[SE]] IX. p. 207</ref> In his view, the [[castration complex]] is the moment when one "[[castration complex|infantile theory]]" -- that every [[human]] [[being]] has a [[penis]] -- is replaced by a new one -- that [[female]]s have been [[castrated]]. The consequences of this new [[castration complex|infantile theory]] are different in the [[boy]] and in the [[girl]]. The [[boy]] fears that his own [[penis]] will be cut off by the [[father]] ([[castration]] [[anxiety]]), while the [[girl]] sees herself as already castrated (by the [[mother]]) and attempts to deny this or to compensate for it by seeking a [[child]] as a [[substitute]] for the [[penis]] . These unconscious representations, in phantasy, cover over the lack at the heart of being in the Other and allow the subject to imagine ([[penis envy]]feel)as though they are special or fulfilled (not lacking). Fear of psychic castration is thus met with a phantasy which positions the subject as not lacking which props up the ego as being of central importance.