Half a century later: current status of Freud's controversial views on women

Abstract

There is an ongoing reexamination of Freud's theories on femininity, in the light of accumulating contrary empirical evidence (derived both from the clinical situation and from direct observations of children). This reexamination remains under the shadow of the historic controversy, which rigidified positions in this area, turning them into a matter of doctrinaire loyalty. At present, two opposing currents may be observed. On the one hand, there is a good deal of continuing research in this area, some of which has been used to confront directly the difficulties with Freud's writings on women. On the other hand, there are continued efforts to salvage everything possible of Freud's formulation, even if at the expense of its internal logic (as when parts of his theory are discarded while retaining concepts predicated on the discarded assumptions). Many of the formulations offered are sufficiently ambiguous as to be rather confusing to all but the most initiated. There are, in addition, attempts to vindicate Freud's ideas by substituting for them Lacan's metaphorical reinterpretations, thereby making them less accessible to empirical refutation. The contradiction in this last position is that, while rejecting Freud's "scientism," it reaffirms as a doctrine the universal generalizations offered by Freud. The latter "defense" ignores Freud's own commitments to scientific standards, and his self-identification as an empirical scientist.