castration anxiety
Sign in to savefear of emasculation in both the literal and metaphorical sense
Research
646 papers- Castration anxiety.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2012
- Castration anxiety and phobias.Psychological reports · 2002
- Castration.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association · 1991
- Castration anxiety.Pennsylvania medicine · 1967
- On castration anxiety.The International journal of psycho-analysis · 1955
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- psychoanalytic theory
- Image
- Cronus-and-uranus-french-c-1501.jpg
- Said to be same as
- Oedipus complex
Show 3 more facts
- opposite of
- penis envy
- discoverer or inventor
- Sigmund Freud
- studied by
- psychoanalysis
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Castration of Uranus by Cronus, c. 1501 Castration anxiety is an overwhelming fear of damage to, or loss of, the penis—a derivative of Sigmund Freud's theory of the castration complex, one of his earliest psychoanalytic theories. The term can refer to the fear of emasculation in both a literal and metaphorical sense.
Freud regarded castration anxiety as a universal human experience. It is thought to begin between the ages of 3 and 5, during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. In Freud's theory, it is the child's perception of anatomical difference (the possession of a penis) that induces castration anxiety as a result of an assumed paternal threat made in response to their sexual proclivities. Although typically associated with males, castration anxiety is thought to be experienced, in differing ways, by both sexes.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “castration anxiety” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.