Penis envy: from childhood wish to developmental metaphor

Two phases of penis envy are considered. The first regularly occurs early in development and is registered as a narcissistic injury which can be resolved under optimal conditions and can contribute to female psychosexual development. If, however, it is not favorably resolved or, even more significantly, if the basic character disorder is of a narcissistic type, the awareness of the genital difference becomes one of many narcissistic traumas. A later phase of penis envy usually represents a regressive effort to resolve oedipal conflicts. In the past, these two phase-oriented forms of penis envy have not been adequately distinguished. Two clinical examples are presented in which the envy of men was only part of a tendency to envy in a narcissistic character disorder. In the analysis, the interpretation of the penis envy offered a metaphor around which all of the "free-floating" envy could coalesce. The cases illustrate the necessity to consider penis envy as the manifest content of a symptom that needs analysis, rather than as "bedrock" or ultimate conflict.