Russell Grigg lectures in philosophy and is the co-ordinator of psychoanalytic studies at Deakin University, Australia. Dr Grigg has a PhD in psychoanalysis and has published extensively on psychoanalysis. He is also known for his translations of the seminars of Jacques Lacan. He is currently a psychoanalyst in private practice. Dominique Hecq is a research fellow in psychoanalytic studies at Deakin University, Australia. Dr Hecq has a PhD in literature and a background in French and German, with qualifications in translating. She has published in the field of literary studies and has had her own stories and poetry published. Craig Smith is a PhD candidate in psychoanalytic studies at Deakin University, Australia. He has degrees in political science from the University of Melbourne and Victoria University of Wellington.

This book lays the groundwork for gender theory and reflects the debates within and outside psychoanalysis on female sexuality. It covers a range of topics, including mothering, passivity, hysteria, masochism, object choice, and the complex relationship between gender and biology.

Preface -- Introduction -- Contributions to the Masculinity Complex in Women -- The Castration Complex -- Manifestations of the Female Castration Complex -- Origins and Growth of Object Love -- The Psychology of Women in Relation to the Functions of Reproduction -- The Flight from Womanhood: The Masculinity-Complex in Women, as Viewed by Men and Women -- A Contribution to the Problem of Libidinal Development of the Genital Phase in Girls -- The Genesis of the Feminine Super-Ego -- The Early Development of Female Sexuality -- Early Stages of the Oedipus Conflict -- The Evolution of the Oedipus Complex in Women -- Womanliness as a Masquerade -- The Significance of Masochism in the Mental Life of Women -- The Pregenital Antecedents of the Oedipus Complex -- On Female Homosexuality -- The Dread of Woman: Observations on a Specific Difference in the Dread Felt by Men and Women Respectively for the Opposite Sex -- The Denial of the Vagina: a Contribution to the Problem of the Genital Anxieties Specific to Women -- Passivity, Masochism and Femininity -- Early Female Sexuality