Maurice Levine Essay Award Paper-1973. The psychoanalytic concept of feminine passivity: a comparative study of psychoanalytic and feminist views.

T HE AIM of this paper is to examine the psychoanalytic concept of feminine passivity as described by Freud and to review challenges of this concept by feminists and other psychoanalysts. The concept of feminine passivity is, as will be demonstrated later in this paper, dependent upon two other psychoanalytic concepts related to women: (1) penis envy and (2) that the clitoris is an inadequate and immature sexual organ. All three of these concepts are seriously questioned by feminists and some psychoanalytic writers. The criticisms raised by feminist writers have created within the women’s movement, and even among some mental health workers, the feeling that psychiatric treatment of women is dangerous and repressive rather than helpful and liberating.‘v2 The criticisms raised make it clear that a new look must be taken if we are to more accurately understand the psychology of women.