The backward self-reproduction of castration anxiety
How come infants who still do not know what sex is or what the use of the penis is, fear castration? How can asexual affections develop into castration anxiety?
When I asked my 4 years old son “Why girls lack penises?” he answered “I don’t know”. The girls’ lack of penis does not make him pity them but simply evokes some tickling interest. He neither envies my larger penis nor feels humiliated by or jealous of its size. Actually, he does not seem to suspect that the penis has functions other than to urinate, to show man’s identity and to produce strange pleasant sensations every now and then. Neither does punishment evoke fear of castration in him. Even when I intimidated him that I could cut off his weenie if he disobeyed me he did not show even a trace of fear of being castrated. He objected that I could not do that because his weenie was “tightly glued”. When I seriously threatened him again he decided that I must be joking. He has a great affection for his mother and likes to be cuddled but I do not find something sexual in that. Or maybe I am too unsuspicious?
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