Anatomical ‘castration’ trauma requires prior dissatisfaction, not mere discovery

Evidence

For it to become a frustration, the little girl has to be unhappy with her situation for some reason; as Deutsch justly points out, an exterior event like the sight of a penis could not lead to an internal development. “The sight of the male organ can have a traumatic effect,” she says, “but only if a chain of prior experiences that would create that effect had preceded it.” If the little girl feels powerless to satisfy her desires of masturbation or exhibition, if her parents repress her onanism, if she feels less loved or less valued than her brothers, then she will project her dissatisfaction onto the male organ. “The little girl’s discovery of the anatomical difference with the boy confirms a previously felt need; it is her rationalization, so to speak.” — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 687

Categorization

• XREF: Directly challenges the Freudian account Beauvoir systematically dismantles; echoes her project of locating woman’s Otherness in situation rather than biology. — connects to: Cerebral trauma’s identity metamorphosis must not reduce to any Freudian libidinal cause. — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 1737; Dissociation eases immediate trauma but predicts later development of PTSD — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core: On the Role of…, 718
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how does this pre-emptive dissatisfaction claim set up the later chapters on myth and situation as the real source of woman’s inferiority?

Broader Connections

• Dissociation eases immediate trauma but predicts later development of PTSD #qualifies (0.72) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 718