Integrating Male and Female Elements in a Woman's gEnder Identity

Abstract

Despite advances in female developmental theory since the 1970s, there remains a lingering tendency to stereotype and polarize gender identity. The key to this puzzle may be found in the legacy of early libido theory, which offers an unintegratable solution for women. This is because in order for a woman to claim femininity according to this early theory, her masculine trends in development must be repudiated and "overcome." A contemporary theory based on primary femininity suggests that this early theoretical "either/or" dilemma puts forward a developmentally immature solution. The analysis of a thirty-year-old woman, and a commentary contrasting "old" and "newer" ways of thinking on the part of the analyst, demonstrate that an interweaving pattern of paternal identifications and male body representations, together with the female body image and female identifications, is necessary to create a mature gender identity portrait. The female body representation and maternal identifications may indeed be enhanced by male internalizations, as happened in this particular instance.

The shaping of masculinity: Revisioning boys turning away from their mothers to construct male gender identity

“…The old notion that femaleness must be overcome in order to create male development simply does not t with the diverse gender identity narratives that our male patients present to us. I concur with Balsam (2001) that an individual's xed gender portrait, such as masculine/active/dominant or feminine/passive/submissive, essentially represents a defensive solution to the struggle involved in establishing gender identity. Thus, as Benjamin insists, the 'lived ambiguities of gender' (1996, p. 36) are made tolerable only when this higher level of (post-oedipal) differentiation is achieved by means of sustaining the tension between contrasting elements that remain available rather than forbidden.…”

Twos and Threes: Musical Chairs in Female Psychic and Social Life

“…Third, the meanings and role of penis envy in girls have been reexamined and are no longer seen as major motivators for the unfolding of female triangular relationships (see, e.g., Jones 1933; Grossman 1994). Rather, what is stressed instead of a sense of lack and renunciation of inborn masculinity are a girl’s close ties to her mother and identifications with her and the importance of feelings about her female body and its life-giving potentialities (Balsam 2001, 2015; Elise 2002; Kulish 2000). Fourth, we argue that separation issues are therefore typically part of the female triangular situation , as is the need to conceal rivalries and aggression toward the mother.…”

Oedipus in Brooklyn: Reading Freud on Women, Watching Lena Dunham’sGirls

“…Harris's (, ) contributions are a comprehensive cross disciplinary statement on the social construction of gender that explore the processes through which gender unfolds in the individual as an idiosyncratic collation of psychic and social influences. Balsam (), in a critique of gender as a monolithic classification, considers an individual's history of maternal and paternal body representations and identifications necessary for the composition of what she terms a “mature gender identity portrait” (p. 1335).…”