Some ppl actually believe in Freudian psychoanalytic theory-including his theory of "p***s Envy": what's up?

Question

Are they aware that Psychoanalysts distanced themselves from Freud in the 1970's - and that "p***s Envy" is a considered a huge joke in the field of psychology?

Freud articulated this insanity in a 1908 article called "On the Sexual Theories of Children". We know that Freud was far more neurotic than any of his patients... or most of us do, at any rate. How do we know? Psychologists have told us.

What is wrong with the educational system that 100 years later - some dummies still believe this? Willful stupidity, right? Sexism, right?

If not, what then?

Answer 1

Freud developed the theory of "p***s envy" to try to explain why so many of his women patients were reporting being sexually abused by their fathers.  He didn't believe that this really happened and developed a theory that the women envied their fathers', and other men's penises.  There was also the belief that women were the incomplete s*x since they did not have a p***s - that the human first developed with a p***s and that girls lost them in the womb.

We now know that many women are sexually molested by their fathers, and that all fetuses start out as females and the p***s is created later in development due to a rush of testosterone and other male androgens.

Some men hold onto the "p***s envy" belief in an absurd way of propping up their self-esteem, because they have nothing further to distinguish themselves besides their gender.

Edit:  Can I disprove it?  That is not the scientific test.  Can you disprove that my cat created the world?  Could there be intelligent cat design?  You can argue any nonsense that cannot be disproved.  The insanity could go on forever.  Thank heavens theories must be first PROVEN to have validity.

Answer 2

Can you disprove it ?

Answer 3

No - not dummies, willfully stupid or sexist...

The answer is pretty simple, Mo.  Most people have heard of Freud and p***s Envy.  And it ends there.  They haven't continued reading or studying him - so they couldn't possibly know of the latest advancements in phychology.  Nor, I suspect, do they have any interest in the subject - that certainly doesn't make them stupid.

Answer 4

Not only has Freud been considered neurotic by many in the field of psychology but quite a few psychologists have reviewed his papers (including his biographer Ernest Jones) and discovered that Freud used cocaine-advocated its use-and performed quite a few experiments with cocaine on himself and published the results. Dr. Jurgen von Scheidt speculated that most of Freud's psychoanalytical theory was a byproduct of his cocaine use-others thought Freud had some great ideas-but that not all of them were sound and few could be proven using scientific methods. Why don't people know any of that? I know about this since I was a Psych major and thought Freud had a couple of good ideas (ie the unconscious and conscious mind) but that his rot about children's psychosexual development and his Oedipus complex was nonsense.

As others have said-he was being paid by wealthy Victorian men to "help" their daughters and a few of them reported being sexually abused (not all of them of course). But it wouldn't have been popular then any more than it is now to discuss the incestuous relationships that wealthy men were having with their daughters. As Freud was fairly obsessed about sexual issues himself-his theories about p***s envy seemed a lot easier to accept than exposing the truth.  H. J. Eysenck claimed that Freud 'set psychiatry back one hundred years', consistently mis-diagnosed his patients, and fraudulently misrepresented case histories. I took a course on Women in Psychology and we understood why Freud was afraid to speak up for his patients-but it was disgusting that he made up these incredible fairy tales to deny his own patient's pain and suffering-thus giving others a whole set of sick theories to use as an excuse to deny patient's sexual abuse. Again why doesn't the general public know this? Well we are talking about women; mental illness; and sexual abuse-none of which are very popular topics for the general public to research.

Yes it's sexist that silly fairy tales that covered up the sexual abuse of girls by their families is still believed. But I don't think it's because of stupidity-I think it's because our educational system is not very sophisticated-and it's easier to hear some trash about p***s envy and believe it then find out the truth. .

-Scheidt, Jürgen vom (1973). "Sigmund Freud and cocaine". Psyche: pp. 385–430.

-Eysenck, Hans, "Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire" (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1986)

-Webster, Richard (1995). "Why Freud Was Wrong: Sin, Science, and Psychoanalysis." Basic Books.

Answer 5

The whole idea is just absurd. Why would a woman want one of those? A p***s is only any good when it's securely attached to a man.

Answer 6

i remember that too and thought that was a little off. but back then that was considered to be one of his things...who knows  maybe he was insecure himself besides neurotic. i would hope today people can decipher that it is sexist.

(lol  good one george w)

Answer 7

why so upset? - wish U had 1 ? lol