Personality and gender
According to Freud, the "performance" of this drama in our childhood,
constructs our character.
It is not our genitals that give us male or
female personalities, nor is it simply the socialisation of our society.
Neither nature nor nurture are responsible for our gender personalities.
Our gender personalities are formed by the roles we play in the drama with
respect to our mother (or her equivalent) and her lover (conventionally,
our father).
Freud, therefore saw a distinction between male and female (personalities)
as having a central effect on the content of our minds. He disagreed with
those theorists (e.g.
Plato,
Wollstonecraft,
Taylor and
Mill) who had argued that, in almost everything except physical
organs
and ability to bear and breast feed children, men and women are essentially
the same.
Final Outline of Psychoanalysis
A great deal has been written about Freud's theories, but, as with
all authors, you will gain most from reading and interpreting his work for
yourself.
Just before he died, Freud wrote
an outline of his
theories. Few authors have been so neat or so considerate! The
outline is a usefull point for you to begin excavating his work
Each of the following questions is linked to the relevant part of these
extracts. Read the extracts with the questions in mind, writing down your
answers as you go.