[The "daughterly" existence. Unanswered questions about the female Oedipus complex]

Abstract

The author investigates the structural difficulties currently involved in arriving at a conclusive definition of the female Oedipus complex. She shows how Freud's theory of the female Oedipus complex, originally a theory of non-individuation, now figures as a theory of individuation, with old, partriarchally oriented constructs and modern ideas of emancipation having entered into complex combinations that can sometimes be disentangled only with difficulty. Finally, three aspects of the female Oedipus complex are examined: 1. its importance in the acquisition of female sexual identity, 2. its function as a locus for finding the heterosexual object, and 3. its role as a locus for the resolution or fixation of the "daughterly" existence.