COnstruction of Female Sexuality

drawing upon recent feminist discussions"

An area of great focus in contemporary feminist theory has been looking at the construction of female sexuality, particularly its

position in heterosexuality. Of the recent discussions, much of this has been influenced or at least based around Freud's theory

of psychoanalysis and the his account of sexual development that follows from it. In very simplistic terms his account places

masculine sexuality at its centre, making the penis the only recognised and valued sexual organ (Smart). Female sexuality is

constructed as lack of or a void because her genitals offer us nothing to see (Irigaray), thereby her desire is framed as an urge

to come to possess the valued organ, which is the penis.

Freud's account of sexuality was initially dismissed by Kate Millett in 1969 as she argued his ideas were self-interested and just

plain silly, however in 1974, Juliet Mitchell brought Freud back into feminism (Smart). She argued that his references to the

penis shouldn't be taken so literally, in attempt to split the symbolic phallus from the biological penis, the problem however

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2580
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)