Sex and gender - Freud's psychoanalytic theory

Question 1

Psychosexual stages

Answer 1

• Oral (0-1)
• anal (2-3)
• phallic (4-5)
• latency (6-12)
• genital (12+)

Question 2

Oedipus complex

Answer 2

• occurs during the phallic stage
• boys experience desire for their mother
• harbour a murderous and jealous hatred for the father
• recognise that the father is more powerful so fear castration (castration anxiety)
• to resolve the conflict, the boy gives up his love for the mother and identifies with the father

Question 3

Electra complex

Answer 3

• in the phallic stage girls experience penis envy
• they see themselves and their mother in competition for their fathers love
• first the mother is a love rival, then the girl resents the mother because she blames her for not having a penis (believes the mother castrated her)
• over time, girls substitute the desire to have a penis with the desire to have children

Question 4

Identification

Answer 4

• both sexes identify with the same gender parent as a means of resolving their conflicts
• they adopt the attitudes and values of the same sex parent

Question 5

Internalisation

Answer 5

• taking on the identity of the same sex parent
• both boys and girls receive a ‘second hand’ identity at the end of the phallic stage

Question 6

Strength - support for Oedipus complex

Answer 6

P: some support for the role of the Oedipus complex
E: For Freud, normal development for boys depends on being raised with at least one male parent - some support for this
E: researchers rated the gender identity of boys based on interviews with children and families. 75% of those judged as gender disturbed had no father
L: being raised with no father may have a negative impact on gender identity

Question 7

Counterargument - challenging the Oedipus complex

Answer 7

• relationship between absent fathers and gender identity not supported
• comparing data between lesbian and heterosexual families
• no differences in psychosocial adjustment or gender identity
• contradicts Freuds theory - shows fathers are not necessary for healthy gender development

Question 8

Limitation - female development

Answer 8

P: inadequate account of female development
E: Much of the Electra complex was developed by Carl Jung. Freud admitted that women were a mystery to him
E: feminist theologians argue that men experience ‘womb envy’
L: challenges the idea that women’s development is founded on the desire to want to be like a man

Question 9

Limitation - pseudoscientific

Answer 9

P: lacks scientific credibility
E: Freud has often been criticised for lack of rigour in his methods. Many of his concepts are based on the unconscious
E: this contrasts with other explanations of gender which are based on objective, verifiable evidence derived from controlled lab studies. This means his theories are not falsifiable
L: pseudoscientific