phallocentric

First phase

The term was coined in 1927 by Ernest Jones, as part of his debate with Freud over the role of the phallic stage in childhood development, when he argued that "men analysts have been led to adopt an unduly phallocentric view". Drawing on the earlier arguments of Karen Horney, Jones, in a series of articles, maintained the position that women were not disappointed creatures driven by penis envy. Instead, this belief was itself a theoretical defense against castration anxiety. Freud, however, remained unmoved in his opposition to the Horney/Jones thesis, and his was the predominant psychoanalytic position after that, though some like Janet Malcolm would modify his position to the effect that "Freud's concept, of course, is... a description of phallocentrism, not a recommendation of it".